Kutch 2001

Contd from front flap
of Agricultural Insurance Schemes in
MISHRA
Asia for the Asian Productivity Pramod K. Mishra
Organization, Tokyo. He has
published a number of articles in
national and international journals of
repute. Dr Mishra has also presented
papers at a number of national and Pramod K. Mishra is presently
international seminars, as well as Chairman, Gujarat Electricity
THE KUTCH EARTHQUAKE 2001

participated in several Government Regulatory Commission. He was
of India delegations. Secretary to Government of India,
Ministry of Agriculture during 2006-
Dr Mishra carried out his doctoral 08. Earlier, he was Secretary,
research under Professor Michael National Disaster Management
Lipton, an internationally known Authority.
economist, at the Institute of
Development Studies, UK, during Dr. Mishra functioned during
199194. He obtained a Ph.D in 2001-2004 as Chief Executive Officer
Economics/Development Studies of the Gujarat State Disaster
from the University of Sussex, UK. Management Authority (GSDMA)
He has also received an MA degree created after the Kutch earthquake of
in Development Economics at the 26 January 2001. He played a crucial
University of Sussex in 1990, when role in shaping the GSDMA into a
his academic performance was rated vibrant, dynamic and innovative
outstanding by the university. In organization, which received a number
1972, Pramod Mishra obtained an of prestigious international awards
MA degree in Economics, with a first including those of the United Nations,
class, from the Delhi School of and the Commonwealth Association
Economics. for Public Administration and
M a n a g e m e n t ( C A PA M ) - f o r
outstanding work in disaster recovery
and management.
Dr Mishra is the author of Agricultural

Risk, Insurance and Income,
THE KUTCH
National Institute of Disaster Management published from the UK in 1996. This
( Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India)
book was and continues to be a major
IIPA Campus, 5B - IP Estate, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi - 110002 (India)
contribution on theoretical and
EARTHQUAKE 2001
Tel. 011-23702432, 23705583, 23766146
empirical aspects of the economics of
Concept & Printed at Fax : 011-23702442, 23702446
agricultural insurance. He is also the
Colour Edge Website : www.nidm.gov.in
colouredge@live.com, 09811530188 editor of Development and Operation
ISBN 81-8347-000-9 Recollections, Lessons and Insights Contd on back flap
The Kutch Earthquake
2001
i
ii
The Kutch Earthquake
2001
Recollections, Lessons
and
Insights
Pramod K. Mishra
iii
National Institute of Disaster Management
IIPA Campus, 5B - IP Estate, Mahatma Gandhi Marg,
New Delhi - 110002 (India)
Tel. 011-23702432, 23705583, 23766146
Fax: 011-23702442, 23702446
Website: www.nidm.gov.in
Chairman
Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission
1st Floor, Neptune Tower, Ashram Road
Ahmedabad 380009, Gujarat, India
Email: pkmgsdma@yahoo.com
Concept & Re-Print at : Colour Edge

colouredge@live.com, (M)09811530188
Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
List of Tables xiii
List of Charts xv
Conversion xv
Foreword xvii
Preface xix
Chapter I Introduction 1
Chapter II Some Recollections 4
Chapter III The Aftermath 17
The State Capital 17
The City of Ahmedabad 20
The City of Bhuj and Kutch District 26
State-level Response 33
Assistance by the Government of India
and State Governments 40
Assistance by the Domestic and
International Community 46
Damage and Destruction: Magnitude
and Spread 51
Media Perceptions 66
Some Experiences of the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (Japan) of 1995 67
Chapter IV Assessment of Damage and
Immediate Needs 69
Assessment of Damage to Houses 69
v
Contents
Assessment of Damage by the

Joint Assessment Team 74
Housing 74
Health 74
Education 76
Dam safety and irrigation 76
Rural water supply 78
Municipal infrastructure 79
Public buildings and historic monuments 79
Power 82
Transport infrastructure 83
Telecommunication 87
Agriculture and livestock 87
Industry 89
Service sector 89
Overall Assessment of Asset Losses
and Reconstruction Cost 92
Chapter V Transition from Relief to Recovery 94
Shelter 94
Removal of Debris 100
Emergency Measures for
Social Infrastructure 102
Creating a New Organizational Structure 103
Financing of Relief and Rehabilitation Work 104
Chapter VI Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
Policy of the State Government 112
A Holistic Approach 112
Components of the Programme 113
Schemes for Various Sectors 114
Incentives and Tax Exemptions 116
Organizational Arrangements 118
Organizational Structure of the GSDMA 120
Grievance Redressal Mechanism 123
Mechanism for Community Participation 124
Focus on Effective Implementation 124
vi
Contents
Chapter VII Progress of Reconstruction and

Rehabilitation Work 126
Housing 126
Education 130
Health 134
Public Buildings 136
Rural Water Supply 139
Power 141
Roads and Bridges 141
Dam Safety and Irrigation 141
Urban Infrastructure 141
Archives and Monuments 143
Social Rehabilitation 144
Livelihood Rehabilitation 144
Community Preparedness, Capacity
Building and Disaster Mitigation 147
Chapter VIII Some Innovative Aspects of the
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Work 148
Owner Driven Reconstruction of Houses 148
House Insurance 151
Urban Reconstruction 154
Role of NGOs 161
Multi-hazard Resistant Construction
and Retrofitting 164
Meeting the Demand for Skilled Masons 166
Training of Engineers 166
Revision of Syllabus and Training of
Teachers of Technical Institutions 169
Strengthening of the Regulatory System
for Safe Construction 170
Licensing of Engineers and
Certification of Masons 170
Measures for Long-term Disaster Management 172
Disaster Management Policy and Act 172
vii
Contents
Establishment of earthquake
observatories and accelerographs 173
Establishment of a Seismological
Research Institute 174
Establishment of the Gujarat Institute
of Disaster Management (GIDM) 174
Review of disaster management plans 175
Upgrading the emergency response
system and search and rescue capability 175
Community-based disaster
preparedness programme 180
Information, Education and
Communication (IEC) activities 181
Studies on important aspects of
disaster management 182
Social Impact Assessment 185
A Reconnaissance Survey
on Disposal of Debris 185
Benefit Monitoring 186
Benefit quantification 189
Chapter IX An Appraisal 192
The Devastation: A Glimpse 192
Some Important Lessons and Initiatives 194
A Remarkable Reconstruction Programme
and its Performance 200
Some International Experiences and
Comparisons 203
Sharing post-earthquake
reconstruction experiences 203
Some international comparisons 211
Role of the GSDMA 214
Relevance of the GSDMA to other states 216
Consolidation and Sustainability
of Initiatives 219
Chapter X Concluding Remarks 220
Select Bibliography 224
Index 226
viii
List of Abbreviations
ACEO Additional Chief Executive Officer

ADA Area Development Authority
ADB Asian Development Bank
AIIMS All India Institute of Medical Sciences
AMC Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation
AUDA Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority
BAPS Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha
BSF Border Security Force
CAPAM Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and
Management
CBRI Central Building Research Institute
CDPO Chief District Project Officer
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CEPT Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology
CHC Community Health Centre
CII Confederation of Indian Industry
CIRG Central Implementation Review Group
CRF Calamity Relief Fund
CRPF Central Reserve Police Force
CS Chief Secretary
DDO District Development Officer
DFID Department for International Development
DG Diesel Generator
DM Disaster Management
DMA Disaster Management Authority
DOT Department of Telecommunication
ix
Abbreviations
DRM Disaster Risk Management

DSRP Dam Safety Review Panel
EGOM Empowered Group of Ministers
ERU Emergency Response Unit
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency
FICCI Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry
GCVT Gujarat Council of Vocational Training
GDCR General Development Control Regulation
GEB Gujarat Electricity Board
GEERP Gujarat Emergency Earthquake Reconstruction Program
GEON Geosciences Network
GERI Gujarat Engineering Research Institute
GERP Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction Programme
GERRP Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
Program
GICEA Gujarat Institute of Civil Engineers and Architects
GIDC Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation
GIDM Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management
GIF Gujarat State Insurance Fund
GIL Gujarat Informatics Limited
GMDC Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation
GNFC Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company Limited
GOG Government of Gujarat
GOI Government of India
GSDA Gujarat State Department of Archaeology
GSDMA Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority
GSFC Gujarat State Financial Corporation
GSI Geological Survey of India
GSLDC Gujarat State Land Development Corporation
GSWAN Gujarat State Wide Area Network
GUDC Gujarat Urban Development Company
GUIDE Gujarat Institute for Desert Ecology
GWIL Gujarat Water Infrastructure Ltd
GWSSB Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board
H&EC Housing and Emergency Communication
x
Abbreviations
HF High Frequency
HUDCO Housing and Urban Development Corporation
I&B Information and Broadcasting
IAF Indian Air Force
IAS Indian Administrative Service
ICDS Integrated Child Development Scheme
IDRN India Disaster Resource Network
IEC Information, Education and Communication
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFFCO Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd
IIT Indian Institute of Technology
ILO International Labour Organization
IMD India Meteorological Department
INMARSAT International Maritime Satellite Organization
INTACH Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage
IMO International Migration Organization
IOC Indian Oil Corporation
KPMG Klynweld, Peat, Marwick, Goerdler
L&T Larsen and Toubro
MPLAD Member of Parliament Local Area Development
NBCC National Building Construction Corporation
NCCBM National Council for Cement and Building Materials
NCCF National Calamity Contingency Fund
NCMC National Crisis Management Committee
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NGRI National Geophysical Research Institute
NICD National Institute of Communicable Diseases
NIDM National Institute of Disaster Management
NTPC National Thermal Power Corporation
OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
ONGC Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
OSOCC On-Site Operations Coordination Center
PHC Primary Health Centre
PMC Project Management Consultant
PMNRF Prime Ministers National Relief Fund
PPPP Public Private Partnership Programme
xi
Abbreviations
R&B Roads and Buildings

RAF Rapid Action Force
RBI Reserve Bank of India
RCC Reinforced Cement Concrete
RMC Rajkot Municipal Corporation
S&R Search and Rescue
SDRN State Disaster Resource Network
SEEDS Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development
Society
SEWA Self-Employed Womens Association
SHG Self-Help Groups
SMC Surat Municipal Corporation
SP Superintendent of Police
SPIPA Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration
SSNNL Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited
TCS Tata Consultancy Services
TDO Taluka Development Officer
TTI Teachers Training Institute
UNCRD United Nations Centre for Regional Development
UNDAC United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization
UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund
USA United States of America
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VHF Very High Frequency
WB World Bank
WCD Women and Child Development
WFP World Food Program
WHO World Health Organization
WIP Work in Progress
xii
List of Tables
Table 1 Emergency hospitals 31

Table 2 Personnel in rescue and relief work 34
Table 3 Rescue equipment deployed during the immediate
aftermath of the earthquake 34
Table 4 Mobilization of buses for rescue and relief work 35
Table 5 Medical personnel and vehicles 35
Table 6 Distribution of emergency assistance 37
Table 7 Water supply restored in towns and villages as
of 19 Feb. 2001 38
Table 8 Police cases filed after the Kutch earthquake 40
Table 9 International search and rescue, and medical teams 47
Table 10 Number of affected districts, talukas and villages 51
Table 11 Severely affected talukas and villages 53
Table 12 Kutch earthquake death toll 56
Table 13 Changes in figures of collapsed and damaged
houses over time 58
Table 14 Year-wise aftershocks 59
Table 15 Significant earthquakes that have occurred in India 61
Table 16 Assessment of damage to health facilities and equipment 75
Table 17 Assessment of damage to educational facilities 76
Table 18 Number of public buildings affected by the earthquake 81
Table 18.1 Number of police department buildings affected
by the earthquake 81
Table 19 Sector-wise asset losses and reconstruction costs 92
Table 20 Total financial loss 93
Table 21 Plot size and construction area in package 1 meant
for relocation of villages 96
Table 21.1 Assistance under package 2 for destroyed houses 96
Table 21.2 Assistance under package 2 for partially-damaged
houses 97
xiii
List of Tables
Table 21.3 Assistance under package 3 for destroyed and

partially-damaged houses 97
Table 21.4 Assistance under package 4A for repair and
strengthening of non-multi-storeyed residential
RCC structures 98
Table 21.5 Assistance under package 4A for repair and
strengthening of multi-storeyed buildings 98
Table 21.6 Assistance under package 4B for repair and
strengthening of low-rise, load-bearing
residential buildings 99
Table 21.7 Assistance under package 5 for repair and
reconstruction of load-bearing structure houses
in the four towns of Kutch 99
Table 22 Removal of debris by different agencies 101
Table 23 Components and estimated cost of the WB
project: Phase I and II 106
Table 23.1 Components and estimated cost of the ADB-
funded project 107
Table 24 Estimated overall cost of reconstruction 110
Table 25 Progress of housing reconstruction as of January 2004 127
Table 25.1 Year-wise cumulative progress in housing restoration 128
Table 26 Progress of reconstruction of educational facilities
as of January 2004 130
Table 26.1 Year-wise progress of restoration of classrooms
(Rural areas) 131
Table 27 Progress of reconstruction of health facilities
as of January 2004 136
Table 28 Progress of reconstruction of public buildings, roads,
dams and water supply schemes as of January 2004 138
Table 29 Progress in urban infrastructure as of January 2004 143
Table 29.1 Some more aspects of urban infrastructure 143
Table 30 Progress of livelihood restoration as of January 2004 146
Table 31 Progress of activities taken up by NGOs as
of January 2004 161
Table 32 IEC activities 182
Table 33 Disaster management capacity building 183
Table 34 Emergency equipment 184
Table 35 Plans and workshops 184
Table 36 Magnitude, death toll and economic loss in the context
of some recent earthquakes in different countries 211
Table 37 Reconstruction strategy in the context of recent
earthquakes in some countries 211
xiv
List of Charts
Chart 1 Formal and informal organizational interactions

for the reconstuction and rehabilitation work 119
Chart 2 Organizational structure of the GSDMA 120
Chart 3 Cumulative progress of repair of houses 129
Chart 4 Cumulative progress of reconstruction of houses 129
Chart 5 Year-wise progress of classroom repairs 131
Chart 6 Cumulative progress in classroom reconstruction 134
Chart 7 Some findings of the benefit monitoring survey 189
Conversion
1 Crore = 10 Million
10 Lakh = 1 Million
1 Lakh = 100,000
xv
Foreword
Gujarat earthquake of 2001, measuring 7.7 Mw resulted in colossal loss

of life and property. Despite having negative consequences in the form of
loss of lives, damage to property, infrastructure etc., it also offered an
opportunity to draw lessons, which ultimately helped in formulating
forward looking policies pertaining to disaster management in the country,
especially related to earthquakes.
In the present book, Dr. P.K. Mishra, the author, former Agriculture
Secretary, Govt. of India and presently Chairman Gujarat Electricity
Regulatory Commission, made a thorough analysis of each and every aspect
of earthquake management; starting from disaster response to
reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery, focusing on lessons learnt and
emphasizing on how to improve the system for better results. The book is
highly acclaimed not only in disaster management sector, but in other
sectors too. The book, in real sense, focuses on lessons learnt from the
earthquake, reflecting a common concern in building disaster resilient
country and reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses.
First published in 2005, the book continues to be much demand. NIDM

is pleased to reprint the book, which will certainly help in further
dissemination of knowledge and experience for effective disaster
management in the country.
Satendra
01 September 2012 Executive Director
New Delhi NIDM
xvi
Preface
M ajor disasters occur time and again, necessitating emergency

measures. Comprising success stories as well as failures, these
relief and reconstruction measures hold valuable lessons for the future.
However, much of the experiences, insights and lessons are lost as time
passes because they are not documented in a way that can be retrieved
and utilized when needed.
The Kutch earthquake of 26 January 2001, was one of the most
severe disasters in recent times. In spite of the immediate sense of shock,
confusion, helplessness and grief, the government and the community
rose to the occasion and quickly responded to the event that had
overwhelmed them. The scale of the rescue and relief operation was
unprecedented. In the days and months that followed, a holistic and
comprehensive reconstruction and rehabilitation programme was put in
place. A new organization, the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority
(GSDMA), emerged. Its performance was widely acclaimed both nationally
and internationally. The GSDMA received the prestigious Sasakawa Award
Certificate of Merit from the United Nations and the Green Award from
the World Bank. It also received a Gold Award, the highest award of the
Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management
(CAPAM) for Innovation in Governance.
Numerous reports and documents on the Kutch earthquake have
appeared in recent times. Some of them are in the nature of a reconnaissance
survey. Others are merely technical reports. Some also focus on the
achievements of particular organizations. There are, of course, press
reports, some of which are highly critical.
This book tries to revisit the first few hours, weeks and months after
the earthquake. It describes how the stakeholders and the system responded
xix
The Kutch Earthquake 2001
to the challenges despite many constraints. It analyses how a

comprehensive and all-encompassing reconstruction programme was
conceptualized, formulated and implemented. An attempt is also made to
objectively appraise the performance during the period of three years from
January 2001, in an international context. The focus is on both the
quantitative and qualitative aspects. The idea is to document important
aspects and initiatives for future reference. Chapters I, II, IX and X together
provide a glimpse of what this book tries to address.
About a year after the earthquake, a workshop was organized in
Ahmedabad to enable some key functionaries and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to describe how they felt and responded during the
immediate aftermath of the earthquake and to draw lessons for the future.
Chapter II contains the descriptions given by 11 individuals who were
working in the government (at district, state and national levels), with
NGOs or with professional associations. I thank all of them for sharing
their experiences.
During the first three years after the earthquake, many presentations
on the progress of relief and rehabilitation work were made on various
occasions and at different forums. Officers of the GSDMA, particularly,
M. Sahu, V.S. Gadhvi, V. Thiruppugazh and a few young executives,
made sincere, dedicated and innovative efforts in this regard. A lot of
work was done by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which was
engaged by the GSDMA to outsource certain activities in preparing reports,
documents and presentations. A number of reports were thus prepared
from time to time. The KPMG also undertook a benefit-monitoring study.
I have drawn extensively from all these documents and reports, in addition
to my own experience as CEO, GSDMA, from March 2001 to May 2004.
Santosh Kumar, Professor of Disaster Management, National Institute
of Disaster Management (NIDM), New Delhi, offered not only useful
comments on an earlier draft but also gave me tremendous encouragement.
Madhavan Nambiar and S.P. Gaur, former and present Executive Directors
of the NIDM, showed immense enthusiasm for the publication of this
document.
L. Mansingh, who was Chief Coordinator of Relief Operations, Kutch,
had prepared a report on the rescue and relief work in Kutch district
during the first few months after the earthquake. Divay Gupta of the
xx
Preface
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) provided a
brief note on damage to heritage structures. Krishna S. Vasta had prepared
a paper containing an international comparison of earthquake reconstruction
work in selected countries. I have drawn material from these reports.
M. Srikant and Aparna Sonwane of TCS helped me in preparing a
number of tables and charts. P.R. Sompura and J.G. Pandya made available
data from various sources. Hemang Jani made useful comments on an
earlier version of the manuscript. Madhuchhanda Mishra suggested some
improvements in the introductory chapter. K.S. Sugathan, Sankabhai Patel
and L.G. Ambujakshan in Gandhinagar; and Satnam Kaur and Sanjay
Raghuvanshi in New Delhi, provided typing and related assistance.
I thank Leela Kirloskar who edited the manuscript and Arvind Passi
of Magnum Publishing, who contributed with publishing inputs.
I am indebted to the above institutions and individuals who contributed
directly and indirectly to this work. However, any error of analysis or
interpretation remains entirely my responsibility.
This book contains recollections, descriptions and some analyses.
I would be grateful if readers could offer their comments and suggestions
which will be extremely valuable and useful for a more comprehensive
documentation.
Just before this book went to press, on 26 December 2004, a massive
undersea earthquake triggered a Tsunamithe deadliest in living memory
that devastated the coastline of many countries in Asia and Africa including
Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, causing the deaths of over 150,000
people, leaving millions more homeless.
The lessons and insights described in this book become extremely
relevant to the present situation. Even though the nature and geographic
location of the impact of the Tsunami tragedy are different from those of
the Kutch earthquake, the basic approach and strategy are relevant to the
reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts that will require a tremendous
amount of resources, initiatives and innovation.
Pramod K. Mishra
New Delhi
12 January 2005
xxi
xxii
I Introduction
F riday, 26 January 2001, was a calm and bright winter morning. I

was Principal Secretary, Agriculture at that time. I had just switched
on the television, at my residence in Gandhinagar, to watch the national
programme on the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, which had already
commenced. Hearing some rattling sounds from the windows, I went
into the drawing room and saw that flower vases and other household
paraphernalia were shaking. The floor began to heave in an alarming way.
I realized that it was an earthquake and told my wife to come out of the
house with me immediately. We rushed to the garden and stood there on
the lawn. The earth continued to heave and move for quite some time. We
thought that it would be over in a few seconds but the ground beneath our
feet felt as if it was alive, moving and shifting like a huge animal. It was
difficult to keep ones balance while the ground was undulating like an
enormous wave.
Our car was parked in the driveway, hardly 10 feet away from us. It
kept moving back and forth, as if a giant hand was pushing it. It was a
sight I cannot forget: a static car moving alternately in opposite directions.
This continued for less than two minutes but it felt like eternity. Then, it
finally stopped.
I went inside the house 10 minutes later and called a senior officer of
the India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi at his residence.
He told me that he was about to start for his office to analyse the data
received and to check on the magnitude of the earthquake.
The earthquake occurred at 8.46 a.m. and lasted for 110 seconds.
The Republic Day parade in New Delhi had already commenced. At the
state capital and at district headquarters, flag-hoisting ceremonies were
1
yet to begin. Some people were watching the programme on television.

Many others were on their way to, or at the venue of local programmes.
School students were participating in processions in some areas, and many
had gathered to hoist the national flag at other places.
As the earth shook, some people understood that it was an earth-
quake; many others did not comprehend what was happening. Within
minutes, however, everyone realized that an unusual event had taken place.
People, including those holding public offices, had to respond. They did
so with alacrity.
Over three years have elapsed since then. Those initial moments of
shock and surprise gave rise to a sense of grief and lossloss of near and
dear ones, as well as of all that many people had. Not only were the people
affected but so was the system. Both the private as well as the public
sector were stunned and overwhelmed during the first few hours and
even days. Subsequently there was a perception of failure, particularly in
the media, and a phase of blame game and acrimony.
But the system had its strengths, people their resilience and the society
its compassion and benevolence. Rescue and relief operations were
undertaken on a massive scale. The transition from relief to reconstruction
was brief. A holistic and comprehensive reconstruction and rehabilitation
programmepossibly the largest ever introducedwas put in place within
a short time.
The spectacular progress of implementation of the programme, in
terms of its size and quality, was widely acclaimed by international experts
and multilateral agencies. The GSDMA received the Sasakawa Award
Certificate of Merit in October 2003, based on its performance during a
short period of two and a half years. In April 2004 it also received the
Green Award from the World Bank for incorporating and effectively
implementing environmental aspects with the reconstruction efforts. On
27 October 2004, an international conference with about 400 participants
was held at Singapore. Here, the GSDMA received the Gold Award, which
is the highest award of the CAPAM for Innovation in Governance. The
award committee observed that the massive earthquake rehabilitation and
reconstruction programme was a paradigm shift from the conventional
2
Introduction
approach of response, post-disaster mitigation and preparedness. Each of

the various initiatives like the owner-driven reconstruction programme,
the role and involvement of community, the transparency and equity
procedure, and various capacity-building initiatives taken up during the
programme was regarded as innovation in governance by itself.
This book attempts to revisit the first few hours, weeks and months
after the massive Kutch earthquake of 2001. It describes how the system
the government, the people and the societytried to cope with one of the
most severe disasters in recent memory. It is a story of how, in response
to one of the greatest challenges of our time, a holistic reconstruction
programme was conceptualized, formulated and implemented. There are
many lessons and insights for the future. There is a need to improve upon
our practices, procedures and preparedness on a sustainable basis. Needless
to say, it is a saga of a journey from a perception of failure to a reality of
success.
3
II Some Recollections
T he response of a system or organization depends a great deal on how

the persons concerned respond to a situation. The present chapter
briefly describes how some of the key functionaries felt and responded
during the first few minutes and hours of the earthquake. This can provide
a backdrop and some insights to understand how the administration
responded during the immediate aftermath of the devastation.
B.R. Patel, Director of Relief, Revenue Department, Gandhinagar

B.R. Patel, who was on the parade ground, felt the earth shaking
alarmingly. Without wasting a second, he rushed to the state control room
of the Revenue Department located in the Sachivalaya premises at
Gandhinagar. He reached there at about 9.05 a.m. and had it opened. He
then sent for officers and staff and contacted a senior officer of the IMD,
who had already left for his office in New Delhi. In the meantime, senior
officers, including the Commissioner of Relief and Principal Secretary,
Revenue, reached the control room. The control room (emergency
operations centre) became operational by 9.30 a.m.
The Collector of the Sabarkantha district was the first to call the
control room and say that the situation was under control and that there
was no need to worry. The Collector of Patan also provided the information
that the town of Bhachau in Kutch district was destroyed and that about
4,000 people had died. Based on this assessment, it was estimated that
thousands more could have perished. Districts such as Sabarkantha,
Panchmahals, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Kheda and Anand were each asked
to send 50 truckloads of firewood and 5060 water tankers to the affected
districts. Mother Dairy was requested to supply milk.
4
Some Recollections
The satellite telephone in the state control room was used to try and
contact Bhuj. Some time later, probably less than an hour after the
earthquake, the telecommunication system in the Gandhinagar and
Ahmedabad area broke down. In addition to the complete breakdown of
the landline telephone system, cellular networks also collapsed.
Communication, even between Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad, became
impossible. Initial communication between the state control room and
Bhuj indicated that the situation was serious. By 11.30 a.m., it was clear
that the Bhuj area had been completely devastated by the earthquake.
Information also trickled in from sources other than the official channels.
Some senior officers who had worked in Bhuj earlier, received information
from various sources regarding the devastation.
Prior to receiving information on the massive scale of destruction in
Bhuj, the state control room received information from nearby districts
such as Sabarkantha and Patan, on the impact of the earthquake in those
districts. In fact, the District Collector of Patan informed the state control
room that Kutch had been severely affected. Injured people from the
areas of Kutch close to the Patan district had started coming to the nearby
towns.
In a short time, many senior officers reached the state control room
and offered their services for emergency duties.
Search and rescue operations need a large number of equipment such
as bulldozers, cranes, and concrete cutters. Efforts were made to mobilize
such equipment from any sources that were available.
C.K. Koshy, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department

While Koshy was hurriedly eating breakfast so that he could leave in
time for the Republic Day parade, he felt the earthquake. He and his wife
rushed out of the house. Koshy then got into his car and left for the
parade ground. When he reached the parade ground, a senior officer
informed him that the Chief Secretary had left a message for him to go to
the control room. So he literally turned around, got back into the car and
drove to the control room. He reached the control room within 15 minutes
after the earthquake had stopped. He tried to contact the IMD for more
5
details and was told that it was somewhere in Kutch. The most useful
piece of equipment was the satellite phone backed by the police wireless.
In the beginning, small glimpses of the magnitude of the tragedy started
coming in sporadically and in fragments.
Kamal Dayani, Collector and District Magistrate, Kutch

At about 8.45 a.m., Dayani was at Ummed Bhavan (the government
circuit house) to receive Sureshchandra Mehta, Minister of Industry, for
the Republic Day function scheduled at 9 a.m. at the police ground, Bhuj.
Suddenly, he heard an unusual sound from the floor of the building and
the rattling noise of glass breaking. He did not know what was happening.
Along with the Minister, he rushed out of the circuit house. They
thought it was a terrorist attack on Republic Day. Then they saw some
parts of the building falling down. People outside the building were saying
that it was an earthquake. This is when he realized what was happening.
He, along with the Minister, rushed to the police ground. On the way
they could not gauge the magnitude of the tragedy. When they arrived at
the police ground, there were only a few people who had gathered, so
they had a symbolic flag hoisting. Then they went to the Civil Hospital as
it was reported that people were rushing to the hospital. They discovered
that the Civil Hospital had collapsed. Then he rushed to the Collectorate to
instruct his assistant to set up the satellite phone, as all the landlines and
mobile phones had stopped working.
Then, along with the District Development Officer (DDO), he went
to the army hospital and advised the medical officer in charge to receive
casualties and mobilize their staff in large numbers. By the time he came
out of the army hospital, he found that people had started arriving there
with the injured. As it was a small hospital, it was soon overwhelmed.
Consequently, it was decided to start a medical camp at a bigger place.
Jubilee Ground was selected for the purpose and the Chief District Medical
Officer was asked to liaise with private doctors of the town.
Dayani returned to the Collectorate. The Minister and other officials
had already informed the Chief Minister and other senior officers in
Gandhinagar about the occurrence of the earthquake. Soon after, it was
6
Some Recollections
7
Damaged office of the Collector and District Magistrate at Bhuj
impossible to communicate with the state capital as all communication

systems broke down. The magnitude of the tragedy was yet to be known
because of the disruption of communication with other towns of the
district. They believed that only Bhuj town had been affected.
In a short time, people started coming from various parts of Bhuj
asking for help to rescue their near and dear ones from the rubble. The
Collector and other officials felt helpless, as they did not have any means
with them except to console the people and assure them that they were
mobilizing manpower and machines for the purpose.
The Collector, the Superintendent of Police (SP) and the Executive
Engineer, Roads and Buildings, decided to mobilize equipment such as
excavators, cutters and dumpers through civil contractors. It was not
easy to get such equipment quickly because the owners of the equipment
were themselves affected and it was difficult to locate drivers for vehicles
to move the equipment. The executive engineer could only arrange limited
equipment.
More people started arriving at the Collectorate and at the office of
the SP, asking for help to rescue their relatives. Even with a limited number
of machines and equipment, teams were sent along with the people who
had come for help. Thus, the rescue operation commenced though totally
inadequate, given the magnitude of the tragedy. There were too many
suggestions from too many people. Dayani felt that in spite of great efforts
by the administration, nothing concrete was visible. Initially, people were
helping themselves and their communities.
After some time it was decided to send two senior officers to
Gandhidham and Mundra which are port cities of the district to bring
more equipment for rescue operations. Gradually, information started
trickling in that other towns of the district such as Anjar, Bhachau and
Gandhidham and many villages were affected. Based on such information,
senior officers were sent to those towns for coordinating the work of
local officers.
Since the power system had failed they decided to procure generator
sets for the purpose of lighting, especially for the places where medical
camps had been organized. Petrol/diesel outlets were not functioning
8
Some Recollections
because of the lack of electricity. It was difficult to locate the owners of

these outlets. Some petrol pumps were operated manually. By the evening,
electricity had been arranged at some places. The mercury was dipping as
time passed. People were demanding tents for temporary shelter. Most
people spent that cold night of 26 January 2001, under the open sky.
The next day, more officials and others arrived at Bhuj to extend their
help. People who had been affected continued to gather near the control
room, asking for rescue teams. The Collector and other officers were
helpless because of the dearth of trained people with equipment such as
concrete cutters and gas cutters. Yet, sincere efforts were made to carry
on rescue operations with whatever resources that were available. Efforts
were also directed to other functions such as provision of food, medical
services, transportation, electricity and temporary shelters. Medical teams
that started arriving from other parts of the state were deployed at various
places.
On the third day, rescue teams from various countries and international
organizations started arriving. They were very well equipped and self-
sufficient. There was great demand for such teams.
Communication was still weak. Damage to the Surajbari Bridge
disrupted road communication. However, the airport, in spite of some
damage, remained functional. This facilitated the flow of supplies from
various parts of the country and abroad.
Vivek Srivastav, SP, Kutch

Vivek was in the police parade ground in Bhuj when the earthquake
occurred. The parade was scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. Suresh Chandra
Mehta, Minister of Industries, and the Collector, were yet to arrive. He
found it difficult even to stand. Some people fell on the ground. The
police headquarters collapsed with an explosion of dust. People started
moving away from the parade ground. The electricity went off and mobile
phones stopped working. People were told that it was safest to stay on
the parade ground. Meanwhile, the Minister as well as the Collector arrived
for the function. Seeing the seriousness of the situation, it was decided to
limit the Republic Day programme to only hoisting the national flag and
9
singing the national anthem. The Minister returned to the Collectorate

after attending the brief function.
The Collector and the SP decided to briefly survey the town. They
observed that the entire walled city was a heap of rubble. They walked
around the devastated area for some time and even saw some limbs in the
debris. When they went back to the Collectorate, they found that the first
floor had collapsed. They decided that the SP would handle the search
and rescue operations, and that the Collector would focus on relief and
supply. A wireless set was installed in the district magistrates office to
communicate with the police control room.
The SP then visited the circuit house, the Collectors residence and
his own residence, all of which had been severely damaged. When he
reached his own office, he saw that the first floor had collapsed and the
ground floor had many cracks. Immediately, the Very High Frequency
(VHF) set in the control room was removed, placed on a table outside
and a temporary control room was set up in the open. Similarly a High
Frequency (HF) set was brought out to communicate with Gandhinagar.
A message was dispatched at 9.15 a.m. to Gandhinagar giving the details
of the destruction, which would however, take a few hours to reach.
In the meantime, people began pouring into the Collectors office and
the SPs office, asking for help. The Additional Superintendent of Police
was sent to the Brigadier to arrange for help from the army.
At Jubilee Ground, a tent had been erected and doctors were already
workingall this within two hours of the incident. As there was a dearth
of medicines, a team of police officers was sent to break open the chemists
premises and procure any medicines that were available.
There were many dead bodies. A decision was taken to dispense with
the panchnama. A police officer and a revenue officer were posted at
every cremation ground so that they could take down the names of the
dead bodies brought there, along with the names of two witnesses. A
detailed investigation would be undertaken later.
Information on damage in other areas of the district also started coming
in. A community kitchen was started on the police parade ground by the
police families because all the houses on the police line had collapsed.
10
Some Recollections
Himanshu Bhatt, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kutch

Bhatt was in his vehicle when the earthquake occurred. After the
parade, he was sent as an emissary to the army camp. He met the Brigadier
who was in his garden and requested him for immediate help. Without
insisting on any formality, within 45 minutes, a platoon was sent to the
SPs control room. Thus, personal interactions helped. On his way back
he met Rajiv Topno, the DDO. They visited some parts of the city and
Jubilee Ground, and identified areas for people to assemble.
At around 6 p.m., a commando requested Bhatt to permit him to go to
his house to check on his family. Bhatt accompanied him and was happy
to learn that the commandos family was safe and sound.
Rajiv Topno, DDO, Kutch

When the earthquake began, Topno was in his car which was quite
old and dilapidated. Initially, therefore, when his car started shaking, he
did not understand what was happening. He instructed his driver to pull
the vehicle over to the side of the road to check. The driver replied that
there was nothing wrong with the car and that the ground itself was
shaking. Topno then saw the police headquarters building adjoining the
road shaking with a loud rumbling sound. People were running helter-
skelter, desperate to reach the safety of open ground. The tremor was
succeeded by a deathly silence, which lasted for over 10 seconds followed
by the desperate cries of anguish as people tried to extricate themselves
from the debris amidst the billowing clouds of dust. It was 8.50 a.m.
when Topno finally made it to the parade ground.
Pandemonium reigned supreme in the parade ground. Topno
immediately headed back to the city and towards the District Panchayat
premises. The entire three-storey administrative block, which also housed
his chamber, had collapsed. The remaining two blocks looked as if the
slightest push would send them tumbling over. The employees were huddled
together, incoherent but safe. After instructing them to look for the Chief
District Health Officer, he left for his bungalow, meandering through the
rubble-strewn street.
11
Topno was relieved to see that his wife was safe and sound but his
house was in shambles. Blocks of masonry had fallen outwards and the
roof was precariously balanced. Scrambling through the rubble, he
managed to collect some clothes and items of daily use but did not have
the courage to fully inspect the damage inside.
As he stood by the entrance to the bungalow, he saw a man of about
35 years of age, pulling a hand-cart loaded with the mangled and bloody
remains of what must have been his family. Seated on the cart was also a
small girl, presumably his daughter, seriously injured and crying uncontrollably.
After some time, he reached the collectorate. The buildings were in
shambles and people were milling about the premises. The enormity of
the catastrophe and the situation made it difficult for the Collector, the SP
and the DDO to determine a course of action immediately. They felt that
no amount of training would have prepared them for tackling a situation
where the administrative machinery of the district itself was affected. It
was decided then and there that the police would take up the task of
rescue operations and the revenue and panchayat administration would
concentrate on providing medical assistance and relief.
The military hospital was the only functioning medical facility in the
vicinity which was soon overwhelmed by the deluge of dead, dying and
injured persons. Fortunately, by 11 a.m., a few enterprising private doctors
had begun medical relief activities at an open ground which later became
famous as Hospital Ground. Though there was only a ramshackle hut, the
doctors there continued their efforts with whatever little equipment and
medical supply that was available. The district administration also
concentrated its efforts to provide medical supplies. Medical stores were
opened and supplies diverted to the ground. A team of runners was deployed
to obtain the supplies from the panchayats medical store near the Ayna
Mahal area, one of the worst affected parts of the city. Soon, the parade
ground became the centre of medical relief and became a full-fledged field
hospital. Topno left the area at about 4 p.m.
It was only at about 5 p.m., when he was trying to review the
intermittent damage reports pertaining to the rural areas at the district
12
Some Recollections
panchayat office, that he received the news that most parts of Gujarat had
been hit by a severe earthquake and that Kutch had been severely affected.
Upon meeting the Collector he was given the encouraging news that relief
materials were being dispatched to Kutch. They then proceeded to the
field hospital, which by then had stabilized.
The air was thick with the smell of burning flesh and smoke. By 7
p.m., temporary lighting arrangements were provided to the hospital ground
and new teams of doctors had arrived.
It was about midnight when he reached the taluka panchayat office
after obtaining a cardigan from his wife, awaiting the relief truck which
had been dispatched, accompanied by some of his employees. The night
was bitterly cold as he lay huddled in his vehicle trying to grab some rest,
but sleep was elusive and his thoughts were racing. He realized how
fortunate he was to have survived this cataclysm but was apprehensive of
the coming days. Then the first truckload arrived. It was 4.30 a.m. and
another day had begun.1
M. L. Chandana, Civil Surgeon, Bhuj

Dr Chandana was at the police parade ground at the time of the
earthquake. When he returned to the district civil hospital, the building
had already collapsed. Eleven staff members and 182 patients including
their relatives (attendants) had died. All the staff members present were
stunned and crying. In a few minutes, however, they started the rescue
work. The SP and the Collector also visited the hospital. In spite of the
tragedy, all the surviving staff members, as well as others, continued to
do what they could to help. Within minutes of the earthquake, about 500
patients arrived at the hospital campus. It was decided to transfer the
patients to Jubilee Ground, Leuva Patel hospital, the Jain hospital and the
military hospital. Doctors were also made available at these hospitals.
Since the medical store was not affected, medicines were made available
to the above hospitals. Within a few hours, 22 patients were sent to
Ahmedabad in four ambulances.
1
This is based on a note prepared by Rajiv Topno describing his experiences on the day
of the earthquake.
13
G. Rao, Practising Surgeon, Bhuj

By 9.30 a.m. survivors of the earthquake started arriving. Dr Rao
reached Jubilee Ground. Patients started arriving in large numbers with
multiple injuries like broken limbs, lacerated legs and burst abdomens. By
10 a.m., suturing materials were brought from Dr Raos hospital, which
had not been damaged. First-aid and preliminary treatment commenced
soon thereafter. By 2 p.m., a tent was erected, anaesthetists were made
available and surgeries started, which continued over the following four days.
The next day, i.e., 27 January, many medical teams joined in the relief
efforts at Jubilee Ground and thousands of patients were attended to. The
approach was to provide first-aid, ensure sterilization and transfer the
patients. Facilities at Jubilee Ground continued to improve. On 28 January,
a semi-permanent structure for a hospital at Jubilee Ground was proposed.
On the same day, a mobile hospital from Israel was set up on the ground
of the Kutchi Leuva Patel Samaj. On 29 January, the decision was taken
to construct a pre-fabricated structure for the hospital. The Syntex
Company was asked to execute the work. By the afternoon of 3 February
2001, the first block of the pre-fabricated structure of the hospital was
made functional with all the necessary equipment.
Janak Dave, BAPS, a Non-Governmental Organization(NGO)

As soon as the earthquake occurred, Pramukhswami instructed Sadhu
Brahmavihari Swamy to rush to Kutch with at least four truckloads of the
following provisions: one with mineral water; one with milk powder, tea,
and coffee, the third with blankets and shelter materials, and the fourth
with a generator and diesel. All these were sent on the first day itself. By
1 p.m. on the first day they could serve cooked food to 4,000 people and
at night, to 20,000 people.
M. F. Dastoor, Divisional Fire Officer, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

Dastoor was at the police stadium preparing for the Republic Day
parade. As soon as the earthquake occurred, he left the stadium and went
to the headquarters. The first call he received was at the police stadium
14
Some Recollections
from a fellow officer of the municipal corporation informing him that two
buildings had collapsed right in front of his house. He took the required
equipment with him, including two new rescue vehicles which had been
recently procured. There were many calls the whole day.
In the evening they were called to help demolish the Shradha apartment
building. They realized that the search operation here had not been effective.
Since the ceiling of the second floor was just two feet above the ground,
they were able to dig only a small hole. Searching further, they retrieved
the body of a boy crushed between concrete structures. After removing
the body, they heard the groan of his mother. One rescuer sat inside a
small hole, used a rocking hammer and cut open five beams under the
concrete structure, which took 10 hours. The operation had started at 8
p.m. and continued till the woman was rescued at 6 a.m. the next day. At
the hospital, three of her limbs had to be amputated; she survived for just
a week.
Anil Sinha, Additional Central Relief Commissioner, New Delhi

Sinha was at his residence in New Delhi when he felt the earthquake.
He saw people rushing out of the neighbouring houses. He got in touch
with the Deputy Director of the IMD and asked what had happened, who
in turn reported after some time that a major earthquake had occurred
near Ahmedabad. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC)
met at 3 p.m. In the meantime, the Cabinet Secretary had already interacted
with several secretaries, asking them to mobilize resources. From the
meeting, Sinha went to the airport. When he reached there at 5.30 p.m.,
he found that about 30 doctors from the All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital had gathered. All of them reached
Bhuj around 8.30 p.m. About two hours elapsed by the time they reached
the Collectorate, because it took some time to get a bus to travel from the
airport to the Collectorate. The Collector was working under a tree. They
also met G. Subba Rao, Additional Chief Secretary and Ashok Bhatt,
Minister of Health. The doctors who were accompanying Sinha had brought
some medicines and equipment but they were not equipped for their own
needs. This created logistical problems. Sinha slept in a car for a few
15
hours during the night. He returned to Delhi the next day for the meeting
of the NCMC and gave them a first-hand account of the situation in Kutch.
It was the first time a clear picture of the disaster, its enormity and severity,
had been reported.
16
III The Aftermath
The State Capital
I n Gandhinagar, senior officers were present at the venue of the Republic

Day parade. The flag-hoisting ceremony was completed quickly. News
about the collapse of buildings in Ahmedabad had started trickling in.
Keshubhai Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat and other senior officers went
to the police control room at the office of the Commissioner of Police,
Ahmedabad. On a holiday it would have taken quite some time for senior
officers to assemble at a place consequent upon such an event. This
problem did not arise because many of them were already present at the
parade ground.
It was reported that a large number of buildingsincluding high-rise
ones and those with reinforced concrete frameshad collapsed in
Ahmedabad city, about 250 km from the epicentre. Some buildings collapsed
in Surat city about 340 km from the epicentre. There were reports of
deaths and destruction from Surendranagar, Patan, Jamnagar and Rajkot.
The district of Kutch was completely devastated. Some parts of Banaskantha
were also affected. There were also reports from other places like Anand
and Bhavnagar. The impact of the earthquake was even felt in distant
locations such as Kolkata and Delhi.
The Chief Minister decided to send a team of senior officers headed
by G. Subba Rao, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, to
Bhuj. They left for Bhuj at 2 p.m. Ashok Bhatt, Minister of Health, and a
team of doctors also left for Bhuj. The state plane and the helicopter were
deployed for their use.
At 5 p.m., the Chief Minister reviewed the situation at the circuit
house annexe, Ahmedabad. Senior officers of various departments were
17
Damage to multi-storey Hare Krishna Apartments in Surat
18
The Aftermath
Isoseismal Map of The Kutch Earthquake 2001
Source: GSI (2003)
This map is not to scale and is indicative
19
present. He made an appeal to the citizens, who were worried about the
aftershocks, to maintain calm. All the government employees were asked
to immediately report for duty, even though the next two days, Saturday
and Sunday, were holidays.
In the morning of 27 January, L.N.S. Mukundan, Chief Secretary
carefully reviewed the situation. A senior officer who was visiting Kutch
on the day of the earthquake, had returned and provided a detailed
description of the magnitude of the devastation. More information about
death and destruction also poured in.
The state government offices remained open on both Saturday and
Sunday (27 and 28 January 2001). The Secretariat remained open and many
employees were present. Those from the affected areas of Ahmedabad
could not come. However, there was a sense of fear among those who
attended office. Many of them were seen moving outside the building,
where they felt safer.
Messages came from New Delhi about the arrival of rescue and relief
teams from different countries. Arrangements were to be made for a
large number of flights, which would land at Ahmedabad and Bhuj. Many
members of the rescue and relief teams from overseas had no time to
obtain visas. The necessary formalities were completed in coordination
with the relevant government agencies.
The City of Ahmedabad

In Ahmedabad, city officials had already assembled for the Republic
Day parade. Their first response was to immediately evacuate the stadium
and move the people to the open ground in order to prevent injuries from
falling structures. The programme was postponed by about 20 minutes.
During that time, the Municipal Commissioner and his key officials, some
revenue officers and police officers, left the venue in order to activate the
response system. The flag-hoisting ceremony was completed quickly.
The District Collector sent a Deputy Collector by 9.45 a.m. to requisition
the army because the telephone system had broken down. The first column
was in place by 10.30 a.m.
Four units of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), which is a part of the
20
The Aftermath
21
Damaged and collapsed apartments of Mansi Towers, Ahmedabad
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) stationed at Ahmedabad, had swung

into action immediately.
The control room started functioning mainly at two places: the fire
brigade and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) control room.
Three municipal hospitals were activated. Three more control rooms were
set up at Tagore hall, Usmanpura and Maninagar. Subsequently, a control
room for the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) area
was also set up in the Collectorate. Officers were sent to areas such as
Vastrapur, Thaltej, Ghatlodia, and Sola Road, and also to various parts of
the city such as Maninagar, Paldi, Vasna, and Wadaj. Officials of the
industries department visited the industrial areas of Naroda and other places,
in order to check on chemical spillover problems. Vital installations such
as the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) filling station at Kali and the rebottling
plant at Sanand were also checked to ascertain if there was any damage.
During the first 15 hours, the fire brigade attended to 37 emergency
calls, rescued 68 people and recovered 67 bodies. In all, 1,221 army
personnel were engaged in the rescue operations. The AMC took steps to
procure equipment from Vadodara, Alang, Mumbai, Bangalore and
Chennai. Equipment was also requisitioned from the Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC), government departments and private operators. With
all these efforts, during the first day itself, 21 JCBs (a type of eart-moving
machinery), 90 trucks, 14 cranes, two Poklanes and two bulldozers were
pressed into service by the AMC. Similarly, in the AUDA areas, nine JCBs
and three cranes became operational. During the first day itself, 72 sites
in Ahmedabad were attended to. On 27 January, these efforts were further
intensified, particularly with the arrival of the Swiss rescue team
accompanied by their sniffer dogs. The team rescued two survivors who
were detected under the debris at Mansi tower.
Rescue operations continued round-the-clock. In all, 135 persons
were rescued82 by the fire brigade and 53 by other municipal corporation
staff and NGO workers. The army played an important role in many of
these rescue operations. Of the persons rescued by the fire brigade, two
were rescued after 99 hours and one woman even after 120 hours.
One major problem related to the 40 buildings which had collapsed
and posed tremendous challenges for rescue efforts. The initial strategy
22
The Aftermath
23
Rescue of people at Maninagar, Ahmedabad
was to cut concrete slabs and remove the debris, taking care to see that
those trapped below were not harmed. This required tremendous patience
and caution. About 270 dead bodies were retrieved from the debris during
this first week. In addition to the buildings which had collapsed, a number
of buildings which were declared dangerous to the public had to be pulled
down.
All the three major hospitals, viz. Sheth Vadilal Sarabhai General
Hospital, Sheth L.G. Municipal Hospital and Smt S.C.L. Municipal General
Hospital, treated numerous patients. Similarly, the government-run civil
hospital received a large number of patients.
Most of the residents, especially those in low-rise and high-rise
buildings, were traumatized by the disaster. Many of the families preferred
to sleep outside: on the lawns, in cars, with relatives and friends, and even
on the roads. In order to alleviate their sufferings, officials of the Collectorate
arranged 172 night shelters which were run either fully by the government
or by NGOs. About 21,000 persons stayed in these shelters. In all, 248
night shelters were opened and over 30,000 persons took shelter in them.
The removal of debris continued to be a priority.
Meanwhile, officials of the AMC and AUDA commenced survey and
certification of buildings.
In all, 226 teams supervised by 30 deputy collectors were constituted
on 27 January to survey damage and distribute relief to the affected persons.
During the second and third day after the earthquake, the issue of
tackling dangerous structures and their demolition emerged. A meeting
was held by the Municipal Commissioner; Chairman, AUDA; and Collector,
Ahmedabad. They decided to pool the resources of experts from the Centre
for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), L.D. Engineering
College, AMC and AUDA, to undertake a technical survey of the affected
buildings. Expert teams visited 84 buildings, out of which 69 were identified
as dangerous. These were demolished and 15 more buildings were
examined by structural engineers with equipment to assess their safety.
In the meantime, instructions were issued by the state government
that steps should be taken to inform people about the safety of their
buildings. On 29 January, a meeting was held with A.S. Arya, an
24
The Aftermath
25
Rescue work in Ahmedabad
international expert. The methodology for the survey of damaged building

and proper classification was decided. Arya suggested an appropriate
classification which would take into account Reinforced Cement Concrete
(RCC) structures. The CEPT was identified as a nodal agency to mobilize
structural engineers from all over India in order to undertake the survey
of buildings and create confidence among the people. A format for the
survey was devised in order to communicate to the occupants the category
of damage to the buildings.
In Ahmedabad city, 80 buildings with 1,021 flats, and 82 other houses
collapsed. In all, 1,103 units or families were affected by collapsed
structures in the city. Many more were affected by damaged structures.
More damage occurred on the right side of the Sabarmati river, which is
a relatively newly developed area. The older area, including the walled city
area, was much less affected. The buildings that had collapsed were mainly
three to five-storey buildings, or taller ones, and had been constructed
during the last two or three decades.
In retrospect, the district administration felt that it was a unique
experience for them and that many lessons could be learnt. It took two or
three days to mobilize the necessary equipment. Equipment such as life
sensors, cranes and sniffer dogs could have enabled more effective rescue
operations. At one point, 85 locations had to be attended to, and it was
indeed overwhelming for the fire brigade to respond simultaneously to all
the calls. In spite of all these limitations, all the personnel were mobilized.
The City of Bhuj and Kutch District

In Bhuj, the flag-hoisting ceremony was to be held at 9 a.m.
Sureshchandra Mehta, Minister of Industry, Gujarat, who was to take the
salute, was about to start from the circuit house for the venue of the
programme when the earthquake occurred. Some parts of the circuit
house and the adjoining collectorate building were severely damaged. Some
parts even collapsed. The flag-hoisting ceremony in Bhuj was completed
very quickly.
In addition to the office of the District Collector, his own residence
was severely damaged. In fact, the District Collector, senior district officers
26
The Aftermath
and the state-level officers who reached Bhuj within hours of the
earthquake, had to work in the open. They also spent the first two or
three nights outdoors. The office building of the district panchayat, which
is an important organization for development activities of the district,
collapsed. Since the DDOs residence was severely damaged, he had to
take shelter in a tent for weeks. The situation was similar for many other
district-level officers, including police officers, and those at sub-divisions
and talukas. In Anjar, the residential building of the sub-divisional officer
collapsed. He and his family members who had just come out of the
house to start for the Republic Day function, miraculously survived. Some
other officers such as Mamlatdar, Anjar, were not so lucky. He died while
travelling to the parade ground.
The district hospital at Bhuj, a 281-bed facility, was completely
destroyed. It functioned as a referral hospital in the district, offering medical
services such as surgery, gynaecology, paediatrics and orthopaedics. With
the collapse of the building, 193 people, including 11 staff members, died.
Located in the same premises were a nursing school and its hospital, an
auxiliary nurse and midwife training school, district tuberculosis hospital,
a mental hospital and staff quarters, all of which were destroyed or suffered
major damage. With such devastation, the immediate task was to arrange
for the treatment of orthopaedic and spinal injury cases. The military
hospital at Bhuj provided emergency care round the clock and carried out
about 3,000 major and 6,000 minor operations. It provided medical
treatment to 12,254 patients.
The medical services provided at the makeshift hospital that was set
up in Jubilee Ground in Bhuj were basically life-saving measures. After
initial treatment, patients were shifted to hospitals outside Kutch, and even
outside Gujarat. About 450 patients were airlifted to other places.
Initially, there was a shortage of wood required for cremation in Bhuj
and other areas. At many places one could see volunteers cremating dead
bodies after extricating them from the debris. The scene was similar at
places such as Bhachau, Anjar and Rapar. Hospitals were becoming over-
crowded and cremation grounds working day and night.
A large number of government employees were among the people
who were traumatized by personal loss. Many had lost their near and dear
27
28
Wood for the purpose of funerals

The Aftermath
ones. Their homes were also damaged. These reasons affected the ability
of the administration to undertake immediate rescue and relief work.
There are also numerous examples of government employees who
showed exemplary dedication, courage and commitment. In spite of
personal tragedy, they continued to perform their duties and undertake
rescue and relief activities. A sub-divisional officer in Surendranagar district
continued to perform his duties for several hours even after he had come
to know that his father and his only son had died due to collapse of a
building in Ahmedabad.
A number of police stations in Kutch were devastated. Police officers
also suffered loss and damage. Yet they played an important role. The
local police, with the help of citizens, rescued hundreds of people who
were trapped. It was the local police, led by the Additional Superintendent
of Police, who were the first to enter the walled city of Bhuj to extract
bodies from the debris during the first few hours of the tragedy. At Khavda
village, the local police inspector cordoned the children at the parade ground,
thereby preventing them from running into the falling debris. Later, he led
the rescue operation in other parts of the village thereby minimizing injuries
and casualties. The police sub-inspector at Adhoi left his family under the
debris at the police line and went to the village to rescue people. The
police sub-inspector at Bhachau witnessed the death of his inspector and
barely managed to save his own life by breaking open the window of the
vehicle that he was trapped in. He remained continuously on duty for
several hours. There were other such cases where officials under severe
stress and adverse circumstances performed their duty admirably.
Army personnel stationed at Bhuj and Gandhidham quickly geared
themselves to provide assistance to the civilian population. Within 45
minutes of the disaster, the two army units sent out 14 and six columns
respectively. On the first day, the army rescued 110 people and recovered
116 dead bodies at Bhuj. Similarly, it rescued 108 people and recovered
58 dead bodies in Gandhidham. The military hospital, being the only well-
equipped hospital in Bhuj and adjoining areas, treated thousands of civilians.
That included 155 operations on the first day itself. The Army Commander,
Southern Command flew in from Pune, along with four surgical units.
Having assessed the situation, additional medical personnel, equipment
29
30
A collapsed building at Bhuj

The Aftermath
and infantry units were moved to Kutch for providing relief. The army
restored arterial road communications of major towns and villages.2
The team of 30 doctors from AIIMS and Safdarjung hospital, New
Delhi arrived in Bhuj on the night of 26 January 2001. During the next few
days a large number of doctors also arrived from many parts of the country.
Many came without equipment. The doctors faced difficulties regarding
their food and accommodation. Subsequently, it was realized that though
there was no dearth of doctors, there was a shortage of paramedics and
surgical instruments. An important lesson learned here is that teams of
doctors who arrive in disaster-struck areas should come well equipped
with paramedical staff, equipment and food.
There were medical teams from France, Japan, Norway, Finland and
Korea. The International Red Cross Society set up a hospital which
functioned as a substitute to the destroyed district hospital. The Israel
team also set up a field hospital at Bhuj. The medical team from Denmark
established a hospital at Gandhidham. Similarly, a hospital was set up by
Ukraine at Bhachau. Japanese medical units were operating from Madhapar
and Kukma (Table 1). It may be noted that the international teams took a
few days to set up hospitals, by which time many of the patients had been
shifted to other places. Furthermore, it was difficult for the foreign doctors
to communicate with the patients because of language problems. It is
necessary to strengthen the local emergency medical system so as to
provide immediate relief services.
Table 1: Emergency hospitals
Number Remarks
350-bed hospital Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies of Norway,
Finland & Germany
70-bed hospital Israel
2 field hospitals France
2 hospitals By Ukrain in Bhachau, Denmark in Gandhidham
80-bed hospital In Bhuj by the state govt and the Indian Medical Association
2
These details are from a report prepared by L. Mansingh, Chief Coordinator of Relief
Operations, Kutch.
31
Hotel Madhuban, Gandhidham
32
The Aftermath
State-level Response
Thousands of people who were trapped had to be rescued. The area

affected was larger than that of states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In
fact, it was larger than the geographical area of countries such as Bulgaria,
Austria, Greece, Portugal and Cuba. With the affected population spread
over a wide area, the task of rescue and relief was extremely difficult.
During the first three or four days, a number of meetings were held
by the Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister. Though rescue and relief
work was the main concern, the issue of temporary shelter also had to be
addressed.
There were seven Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers who
were assigned to special duties at the state-level control room. Other officials
who were deputed to coordinate with various agencies sending relief
materials and personnel by air included two IAS officers who were assigned
duties at Ahmedabad airport, one at Mumbai airport and one at Bhuj airport.
Two senior IAS officers were appointed as coordinators for Anjar;
one each for Bhuj, Bhachau, Rapar, Gandhidham, Ahmedabad and Rajkot.
G. Subba Rao was in overall charge of relief operations in Kutch district
for the first few days. L. Mansingh was subsequently appointed as Chief
Coordinator and stationed at Bhuj. He was delegated with the powers of
the state government in financial and other matters.
Thus, senior officers were sent to the affected areas. This was in
addition to ministers and secretaries in charge of the respective districts.
The state government appointed additional collectors and additional DDOs
for the 17 worst-affected talukas. They were given the powers of District
Collectors and DDOs so as to take expeditious decisions.
During the first few days, mobilization of men, material and equipment
was the main focus. The other aspect was the visit of VIPs and teams
from other states and countries. All these posed enormous problems of
logistics and coordination.
The state administration had to cope with the problem of sending
men, material and equipment to various places. For the purpose of rescue,
equipment such as bulldozers, cranes and concrete cutters were required
33
in cities such as Ahmedabad and in remote areas like Kutch and Jamnagar.
Hundreds of villages and towns had been devastated by the earthquake.
Every site required cranes and earth-moving equipment. These were
mobilized from government departments such as the irrigation department,
roads and buildings department, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam and the
Gujarat State Land Development Corporation (GSLDC). Various industrial
houses also mobilized equipment. Even the neighbouring states of Rajasthan
and Maharashtra sent equipment.
The requirement of personnel, technical and non-technical, was
massive. It was necessary to deploy a large number of doctors and
paramedical staff.
Tables 2, 3, 4 and 5 indicate the mobilization of personnel and equipment
during the first few days of the tragedy.
Table 2: Personnel in rescue and relief work
Personnel Number
Technical 2,104
Non-technical 6,213
Unskilled 13,355
Table 3: Rescue equipment deployed during the immediate

aftermath of the earthquake
Equipment Kutch Others Total

JCBs/cranes 831 321 1,152
Bull Dozers/excavators 395 148 543
Dumpers/trucks 2,679 174 2,853
Gas cutters 614 287 901
From the above tables, one can gauge the magnitude of the task.
Mobilizing and transporting such a large number of heavy equipment to the
affected areas, which were widespread, posed a complex problem of logistics.
34
Table 4: Mobilization of buses for rescue and relief work
No. of Mobilized for

buses
760 Doctors, volunteers, police personnel, medicines
1,978 12,115 injured and their relatives to reach various hospitals
319 Free transport of earthquake-affected population within Kutch
Table 5: Medical personnel and vehicles

Personnel Kutch Others Total
Medical officers 250 1,584 1,834
Specialist doctors 400 363 763
Paramedical staff 1,000 1,500 2,500
Jeeps/ambulances 1,603 362 1,965
During the first few days, 107 administrative officers, 11,000 other
staff, 3,000 police personnel and 2,500 Home Guards were deployed.
The armed forces organized large-scale rescue efforts, including eight
engineering regiments, 36 columns, 48 IAF aircrafts/helicopters and 953
sorties. The Border Security Force (BSF), the CRPF and RAF participated
in a big way. Over 5,000 trucks, cranes, bulldozers and gas cutters etc.,
were mobilized for the rescue efforts.
Within two days of the earthquake, Kutch, which was the worst-
affected district, had 450 medical teams including 245 in rural areas. The
teams consisted of about 200 specialists, 450 doctors, 785 paramedics
and 81 ambulances.
In order to prevent the outbreak of epidemics, an elaborate system of
surveillance was instituted throughout the affected area. Expert teams
from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) prescribed
preventive measures.
The water system was monitored for its chlorine level and the presence
of bacteria, to prevent water-born diseases. Medical experts from the
35
36
Medical camp at village Ratnal

The Aftermath
United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health

Organization (WHO) assisted the local authorities in these efforts.
The next important issue was the supply of relief materials and
arrangement for temporary shelters. The winter is severe in Kutch and
other affected areas. Even those whose houses had not been severely
damaged were too scared to sleep inside buildings and preferred to sleep
outside. The state government had to purchase a large number of tents
and other temporary sheds within a short time. This was in addition to
those provided by other states and countries.
Cash doles were disbursed by the Government of Gujarat to over
900,000 families and assistance for household kits was given to 372,000
families (Table 6). Tents, tarpaulins and plastic sheets were given to 348,000
families for temporary shelter.
Table 6: Distribution of emergency assistance
Relief measures Number Rs (Crore)
Cash doles 911,063 Families 73.75

Household kits 372,027 Families 41.23
Death compensation 13,378 Cases 121.25
Injury assistance 19,648 Cases 17.12
The Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) deployed 220 engineers and skilled
staff in the affected areas for restoration of the power supply. By 5 February
2001, i.e., 10 days after the earthquake, 80 per cent of the services were
restored. By the end of that month, services had been completely restored.
The immediate need was to restore the water supply. Measures were
taken to supply water through tankers and repair of pipelines immediately.
Table 7 indicates the position of restoration of the water supply to towns
and villages as on 19 February 2001.
37
Table 7: Water supply restored in towns and villages as of 19 Feb. 2001

District Towns Villages Town supply restored Village supply restored
affected affected Pipes Tanker Pipes Tanker
Kutch 10 884 3 7 580 273
Rajkot 02 125 1 1 83 35
Jamnagar 02 92 1 1 43 49
Ahmedabad 01 00 1 0 0 0
Surendranagar 03 239 3 0 0 10
Total 18 1,340 9 9 706 367
Relief materials were pouring in from everywhere. There was, no

doubt, tremendous need for relief materials, including food, clothing, shelter
and other necessities. However, problems were faced in managing the
distribution. Some materials which were sent by trucks had to be unloaded
and sorted. In many cases, it took a lot of time to find out what was in
the trucks. Often, there were many items that were not needed. For
example, people in rural areas did not wear jeans, etc., which remained
unutilized. Further, some medicines, though sent in large quantities, were
not required. Another problem to be tackled was which items and what
quantities were to be sent to different villages. A number of voluntary
agencies and other organizations brought relief materials. Some of them
got in touch with the district administration and were directed to appropriate
places. Others went to the villages directly.
Bhuj was in the news. Thousands of vehicles carrying relief materials
and rescue teams travelled to Kutch. Initially, most of the relief teams
headed towards Bhuj and Anjar. At a later stage it was discovered that
Bhachau, located on the way, was also in need of relief materials. There
were traffic jams on the road leading to Bhuj. It became much worse as
people from Kutch, who panicked due to the aftershocks, started going to
other districts and even to other states by state transport buses and other
vehicles. All these created tremendous problems for traffic. The old
Surajbari bridge which was damaged, was closed for the first few days.
The only road which led to Kutch was the one via Mehsana and Radhanpur.
In the meantime, private individuals filed criminal cases against builders
and engineers. The state government initiated measures against builders,
38
The Aftermath
39
Relief materials at Bhachau
contractors and structural engineers associated with the buildings that

collapsed resulting in death and injuries. Action was also taken against
some municipal officers who were in charge of approving plans. Many
builders and engineers went underground. As can be seen from Table 8,
119 offences with 484 accused were registered at various places in the
state; 253 persons were also arrested. Of the accused persons, 80 were
government officials. One municipal official was arrested. By the end of
2003, charge sheets were filed in the courts in respect of 75 offences.
Table 8: Police cases filed after the Kutch earthquake

No. of No. of No. of Cases Officials
Town/District offences accused persons charge- involved
registered arrested sheeted
in courts
Ahmedabad City 61 269 99 49 68
Surat City 1 18 18 1 0
Rajkot City 3 2 2 1 0
Supdt of Police,
Ahmedabad Rural 2 11 5 2 0
Surendranagar 1 3 0 0 2
Rajkot Rural 2 5 0 0 4
Bhavnagar 14 3 0 0 3
Junagadh 1 4 4 1 0
Kutch-Bhuj 32 163 119 19 3
Navsari 2 6 6 2 0
TOTAL 119 484 253 75 80
Assistance by the Government of India and State Governments

The Gujarat state government was in constant touch with the
Government of India, right from the beginning. The cabinet secretary
convened a meeting of the NCMC at 3.00 p.m. on 26 January 2001.
Senior officers and service chiefs attended the meeting. It was decided to
help move relief materials and equipment to Bhuj. The cabinet secretary
contacted the chief secretaries of Rajasthan and Maharashtra and requested
40
The Aftermath
41
Rescue activity by army jawans at Bhuj
them to send medical teams and relief materials to the earthquake-affected

areas. The Prime Minister convened an emergency meeting of the Cabinet
at 5.00 p.m. on 26 January 2001 and reviewed the initiatives of the NCMC.
The three service chiefs who were present briefed the Cabinet. The Prime
Minister announced immediate relief of Rs 500 crores. He also cancelled
his visit to Malaysia and Japan.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) under the chairmanship
of the Union Home Minister, was constituted on 30 January 2001. The
group held meetings on 30 January, 2 February and 7 February, to review
the relief and rescue measures.
An all-party meeting was held on 3 February 2001, chaired by the
then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was proposed to set up a
National Committee on Disaster Management. The Government of India,
by a notification of 13 February 2001, set up a National Committee
comprising 35 members with the Prime Minister as Chairman and Sharad
Pawar, Member of Parliament, as Vice-Chairman. The other members
were the Union Ministers of Home, Defence, Finance, Agriculture, Textiles,
Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs, Deputy Chairman of the
Planning Commission, Principal Scientific Advisor, the Chief Minister of
Gujarat, representatives of national parties and state parties. The Cabinet
Secretary was the member-secretary of the National Committee. It was
envisaged that the National Committee would:
" Suggest short-term, medium-term and long-term steps for relief,

rehabilitation and reconstruction in the earthquake-affected areas
of Gujarat;
" Deliberate on the necessary institutional and legislative measures
needed for the effective and long-term strategy to deal with major
calamities in future; and
" Look into the parameters that should define a national calamity.
The Government of Gujarat made a presentation on 28 February 2001

in New Delhi to the National Committee on Disaster Management. It
covered various aspects of the earthquake, its impact and progress of
relief and rehabilitation work.
42
The Aftermath
The Gujarat government also presented a memorandum in February

2001 to the Government of India on the earthquake damage and requested
for central assistance. Further details and updated information were sent
to the Government of India during the middle of March, 2001.
Earlier, in August 1999, the Government of India had set up a High
Power Committee on disaster management comprising experts, with J.C.
Pant, former Union Secretary (Agriculture) as the Chairman. The committee
had interacted with a wide cross-section of the governmental system,
NGOs and other stakeholders. The committee was in the process of
finalizing its report. With the setting up of the National Committee, the
High Power Committee became the working group of the National
Committee.
All central ministries/departments and public sector undertakings were
requested to deploy their machinery for providing the maximum possible
assistance.
L.K. Advani, Union Home Minister at that time, visited Ahmedabad
on 28 January 2001, to review the rescue and relief operations.
Subsequently, the Prime Minister and Union Ministers of Defence,
Agriculture, Power, Telecommunication, Urban Development, Health and
Information & Broadcasting (I&B) visited the affected areas.
On clearance from the Indian Air Force (IAF) on the suitability of
the runway at Bhuj to receive light aircraft, one AN-32 aircraft took off
from Delhi at 7 p.m. on 26 January 2001, along with Anil Sinha, Additional
Central Relief Commissioner and a team of 30 doctors with medical
equipment and medicine. Engineers from the Department of Tele-
communications (DOT) with satellite phones and IMD officials with
seismographic equipment also accompanied this team.
The Air Force pressed into service six IL-76, 18 AN-32, four Avros,
four Dorniers and 16 helicopters. They made 953 sorties, carrying relief
materials, tents, equipment, food items, rescue teams and injured persons.
The army deployed a large number of troops in the Bhuj and Ahmedabad
sectors. In addition, three columns of the 68 Engineers Regiment were
deployed for technical inspection of buildings that were rendered unsafe.
A large number of vehicles and equipment were also deployed. They
43
44
CMYK
CMYK
Army jawans undertaking rescue work at Bhuj

The Aftermath
rescued 478 persons, evacuated 484 seriously injured persons and

recovered 2,260 dead bodies. The navy dispatched a team of 30 men
with INMARSAT satellite phones. The INS Ganga carried relief materials
to Kandla and two naval ships were converted into hospital ships where
surgeries were performed. A Dornier operated between Mumbai and Kandla
carrying fresh water.
The Union Home Ministry released a number of companies of the
central paramilitary forces for rescue and relief work. During the first
few days, 47 of these, such as the RAF, CRPF and BSF, provided rescue
and relief services. A number of ministries such as Chemicals and
Petrochemicals, External Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Health,
Finance, Mines, Petroleum, Power, Railways, Shipping, Social Justice
and Empowerment, Rural Housing, Telecommunication, Urban
Development and Women and Child Development, participated in providing
immediate relief.
The Ministry of Railways deployed special trains with relief materials
from Mumbai, Madras, Kolkata and New Delhi to Ahmedabad. The
Ministry of Power arranged for 19 generator sets for utilization by the
GEB in the Kutch district. The Powergrid Corporation and the National
Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) assisted in repairing and re-
commissioning of 10 sub-stations of the GEB. The Power Finance
Corporation sanctioned a loan of Rs 100 crores for the repair and
reconstruction of transmission and distribution systems. The Rural
Electrification Corporation also sanctioned a loan of Rs 100 crores.
Many state governments spontaneously offered relief assistance, both
in cash and kind, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh,
Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu
and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Pondichery, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and West Bengal. Food,
blankets, medicines, medical personnel, water tankers, equipment etc.,
were sent by various state governments and union territories. Many of
them also contributed to the Gujarat Chief Ministers Relief Fund. Some
states sent not only equipment and material but also senior officials and
supporting staff to undertake relief work. Some states continue to
participate in the reconstruction work.
45
Assistance by the Domestic and International Community
The Government of India did not appeal for international assistance.

However, as a matter of policy and as a departure from earlier practices,
assistance offered was accepted. The United Nations Disaster Assessment
and Coordination (UNDAC) team visited the earthquake-affected areas as
advised by the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
on 27 January 2001, in consultation with the Governement of India, to
assist the Indian authorities and the UN with the coordination of international
assistance. The UNDAC team established an On-Site Operations and
Coordination Center (OSOCC) at Bhuj to facilitate coordination of relief
activities. The OSOCC was located within the premises of the office of
the Collector, Kutch. It became the focal point for international coordination
and for information sharing, both for government officials and NGOs. A
report of 20 February 2001 prepared by the UNDAC team provides the
following details:
Search and rescue teams from abroad began their operation at 2300
hours on 27 January, when the Swiss search and rescue team arrived by
air, closely followed by teams from the UK, Russia and Turkey. The
Swiss rescue team consisted of 52 members and 12 sniffer dogs. As
soon as they arrived in Ahmedabad they immediately proceeded to the site
of the nearest multi-storeyed building in Ahmedabad and started their rescue
efforts. They rescued eight people during their operation. There were two
teams from the UK. The UK search and rescue team comprised 69 people
with equipment, who rescued six survivors and recovered two dead bodies.
The British International SAR and dog team had eight members, one dog
and sundry equipment. A total of 26 teams arrived in Gujarat by 2 February
(Table 9).
The first teams began to depart on 1 February and by 15 February
almost all had left. As there was no possiblity of rescuing more
survivors by then, the remaining teams were deployed on more general
relief tasks, some helping with the recovery of bodies, others with debris
clearance, relief and medical support, as well as providing assistance to
local teams.
46
The Aftermath
Table 9: International search and rescue, and medical teams
Country Manpower
Bulgaria 137 persons and trauma kits
Denmark Medical team
France 32 persons, 9 dogs and equipment
Germany 30 persons and 6 dogs
Hungary 52 persons and one dog
Israel 100 persons and equipment
Italy/Spain 11 persons and 10 dogs
Japan 58 persons
Mexico 6 persons including one doctor and paramedics
Netherlands Doctors with medical equipment
Poland 15 persons including 10 firemen and 2 doctors
Russia 76 persons and equipment
South Africa 31 persons, 2 dogs and equipment
South Korea 36 persons (including 23 doctors) and medical supplies
Switzerland 52 persons and 12 dogs
Turkey 27 persons and equipment
UK 75 persons, 1 dog and equipment
Ukraine Team with mobile hospital
USA 10 persons
Source: Report of UNDAC Team and Government of Gujarat (Revenue
Department) presentation.
Initially, the relief provided consisted of mostly medical supplies and

medical teams but subsequently other supplies arrived. By 10 February
2001, relief had arrived from 38 countries as well as UN agencies and
many international NGOs. In fact, by 12 April 2001, OSSOC registered
the presence of over 245 organizations and agencies, including at least 99
international NGOs, 55 national NGOs, 20 donor government teams, 10
UN and inter-governmental organizations and Red Cross representatives
from 10 countries.
More than 50 Red Cross/Red Crescent members responded in support
of the Indian Red Cross, starting with the deployment of the following
Emergency Response Units (ERUs):
47
48
Rescue and relief team from abroad

The Aftermath
" A 350-bed Norwegian and Finnish Red Cross emergency response

referral hospital;
" A German Red Cross water and sanitation ERU;
" A Japanese Red Cross emergency response primary health care
unit;
" A British Red Cross logistic ERU and distribution team; and
" A Spanish Red Cross mobile medical clinic.
While the emergency response primary health-care unit and the mobile
clinic withdrew at the end of March, the emergency response referral
hospital was gradually integrated into the local health system.
Israel sent equipment and personnel in seven aircrafts and also set up
a civil hospital at Bhuj. It was a self-contained 70-bed medical unit with a
laboratory, an X-ray unit, sleeping quarters and logistics group. It was
equipped to treat about 1000 patients every day.
Most of the international organizations such as the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), WHO, UNICEF, World Food Programme
(WFP), International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International
Migration Organization (IMO) participated in relief operations. The United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department
for International Development (DFID)) also played an important role.
There were 250 flights from over 50 countries carrying relief materials;
in all, 12 countries sent rescue teams.
The Government of Gujarat facilitated the participation of international
agencies and NGOs. Officers were assigned coordination work in Mumbai,
Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bhuj.
NGOs such as Ramkrishna Mission, Sewa Bharti, Mata Amritanandmayi
Math, BAPS, Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan, Kutch Jain Samaj, Caritas India
and many others, played important roles in providing relief to the affected
people. There was spontaneous response from the corporate sector.
Reliance, the Tata Group, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Gujarat Narmada
Valley Fertilizers Company Limited (GNFC), Gujarat State Financial
Corporation (GSFC), Zydus Cadila, Hinduja Foundation, public sector
banks, Indian Airlines, the Gems and Jewellery Merchants Association,
49
Rescue work with modern equipment at Bhuj
50
The Aftermath
the Videocon Group, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce

and Industry (FICCI), Care, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
and a number of public sector undertakings, played an important role in
both relief and rehabilitation.
Damage and Destruction: Magnitude and Spread

The destruction was widespread and the area affected was vast. As
per the notification of the Revenue Department, 21 districts out of 25
were affected in varying degrees. Over 7,000 villages were affected (Table
10). The population affected was 28 million. Five districts, namely, Kutch,
Jamnagar, Surendranagar, Rajkot and Patan were severely affected. In
addition, there was destruction in Ahmedabad city and to some extent, Surat.
Table 10: Number of affected districts, talukas and villages
Sr. Name of No. of Affected No. of Affected Population

No District Talukas villages Affected
1 Ahmedabad 11 484 5,461,178
2 Amreli 11 273 864,626
3 Anand 8 112 468,725
4 Banaskantha 9 320 887,826
5 Bharuch 8 270 822,572
6 Bhavnagar 11 377 1,685,378
7 Gandhinagar 4 210 916,522
8 Jamnagar 11 685 1,902,680
9 Junagadh 13 554 1,876,736
10 Kheda 9 404 1,231,273
11 Kutch 10 890 1,523,562
12 Mehsana 9 611 1,818,445
13 Navsari 5 313 1,104,473
14 Patan 8 349 764,645
15 Porbandar 3 157 494,605
16 Rajkot 14 686 2,496,279
17 Sabarkantha 8 68 150,641
18 Surat 8 94 1,483,518
19 Surendranagar 10 659 1,512,189
20 Vadodara 6 85 205,648
21 Valsad 5 32 368,017
Total 181 7633 2 8,039,538
51
52
This map is not to scale and is indicative Source: GSDMA

The Aftermath
Out of 181 talukas, 42 talukas as indicated in Table 11 were

declared as severely affected talukas. In the five most affected districts
442 villages had more than 70 per cent of houses destroyed.
Table 11: Severely affected talukas and villages

Number of villages
District Severely affected talukas with 70% or more
houses destroyed
Rajkot Morbi*, Wankaner*, Maliya*-Miyana,
Tankara, Padadhari 62
Kutch Bhuj*, Rapar*, Bhachau*, Mundra*,
Anjar*, Gandhidham*, Nakhatrana,
Abdasa, Lakhpat, Mandvi. 335
Surendranagar Dhrangadhra*, Patdi*, Halvad*,
Wadhawan, Limdi 13
Ahmedabad City*, Daskroi*
Patan Sami*, Santalpur*, Radhanpur,
Harij, Patan 6
Jamnagar Jodiya*, Dwarka, Jamnagar City, Kalyanpur,
Khambhalia, Lalpur, Jamnagar Rural, Dhrol 26
Banaskanta Vav, Tharad, Bhabhar, Kankrej, Deodar,
Deesa, Dhanera 0
Note: The talukas with asterisks were upgraded to districts and officers of the rank of
additional collector and additional district development officer were appointed.
From the very first day there was tremendous demand from all quarters
including the media, for data on the death and damage. All sorts of figures
appeared in the press. During the first two days it was felt even by senior
officials that the number of dead could be as high as 60,000. Reports of 8,
10 and 12 February 2001 of the state government indicated figures of
16,487, 16,755 and 18,603 respectively. By the end of February and the
middle of March, the figures given were 20,447 and 20,005 respectively.
A report by UNDAC dated February 20, gives a figure of 30,000. In fact,
on the first or second day after the earthquake the then Union Defence
Minister gave a statement that the death figures could be to the extent of
100,000 people.
53
54
A woman retrieving her belongings at Ratnal village

The Aftermath
55
Search in ruins (a village in Kutch)
For a long time, the death figures remained about 20,000, based on
the records of the police stations and hospitals. Subsequently, however,
detailed verifications were undertaken. It was discovered that there were
many overlaps as well as duplication of figures. The state government
constituted a committee of senior officers to have the figures verified.
Finally, the death figure, based on the committees report of 7 December
2001, was given as 13,805: including 3,743 men, 5,184 women and 4,878
children. District-wise details of the death toll are given in Table 12.
Table 12: Kutch earthquake death toll

District Men Women Children Total
Ahmedabad 290 244 218 752
Anand 0 2 0 2
Banaskantha 9 13 10 32
Bharuch 3 4 2 9
Bhavnagar 2 1 1 4
Gandhinagar 2 0 6 8
Jamnagar 28 62 29 119
Junagadh 1 4 3 8
Kachchh 3,229 4,573 4,419 12,221
Navsari 7 6 4 17
Patan 11 13 14 38
Porbandar 4 3 3 10
Rajkot 106 204 119 429
Surat 25 9 12 46
Surendranagar 26 46 38 110
Vadodara 0 1 0 1
Total 3,743 5,184 4,878 13,805
The Kutch district accounted for about 88 per cent of the deaths. The
number of people injured was estimated to be about 167,000.
Schools remained closed for about a month. A total of 31 teachers
died and 95 were injured. There were 971 students who died (910 from
primary schools, 37 from secondary schools, three from colleges and 21
from technical institutions); 1,051 others were injured.
56
The Aftermath
A site of liquifaction
57
The incidence of death and injury to students would have been much
greater had the earthquake occurred on a working day. As it was 26
January, many students were in open areas for the Republic Day
programmes or at home. In Anjar, about 300 children were marching
along a street as part of the Republic Day procession. They met with a
tragic end when buildings collapsed from both sides of the narrow lane.
Initially, the number of houses which had collapsed and which had
been damaged were estimated to be 2.69 lakhs and 5.44 lakhs respectively.
As time passed, there was an increase, based on the verification of these
numbers. Furthermore, some of the buildings which had earlier been
indicated as residential were actually commercial premises. The number
of residential premises which needed to be reconstructed thus reduced,
with verification and refinement from time to time (Table 13).
Table 13: Changes in figures of collapsed

and damaged houses over time
10.2.2001 16.2.2001 15.3.2001 1.4.2002 31.3.2003 1.1.2004
Fully
collapsed
houses
(lakhs) 2.68 3.30 3.71 2.38 2.45 2.15
Damaged
houses
(lakhs) 5.44 6.00 9.23 10.16 10.44 9.28
An important lesson is that it is unrealistic to expect accurate figures

of loss and damage immediately after a disaster that is severe and
widespread. It may be more rational to follow a systematic approach and
a realistic time-frame.
Estimates of the magnitude of the earthquake varied. Initially, it was
estimated by the IMD to be 6.9 on the Richter scale. The Geological
Survey of India estimated it to be 7.6 on the moment (Mw) scale. The US
Geological Survey estimated it at 7.7 on the moment (Mw) scale. The last
estimate appears to be the most accepted one.
58
The Aftermath
The epicentre was located at 23.40 degrees north latitude and 70.28
degrees east longitude, with a focal depth of 25 km (according to some,
18 km). Initially the IMD had identified the epicenter to be near the village
of Lodai, about 20 km north-east of Bhuj (23.6 degrees north and 69.8
degrees east). Subsequently, it was located near the village of Chaubari,
about 65 km to the east of Bhuj and 20 km to the north of Bhachau.
In short, the Kutch earthquake occurred at 8.46 a.m. on 26 January
2001. The magnitude was 7.7 Mw. It lasted for about two minutes. The
epicenter was at Chaubari located to the north of Bhachau in the Kutch
district of Gujarat, at a distance of about 250 km west of Ahmedabad.
During the first fortnight after the earthquake there were two major
aftershocks of magnitudes of 5.9 and 5.3. There were, of course, many
aftershocks during the first three years: 953, 149 and 53 respectively
during 2001, 2002 and 2003 (Table 14).
A number of major earthquakes have occurred in India in the past.
Some of these are listed in Table 15 with a view to providing a perspective
to judge the severity of the Kutch earthquake of 2001.
Table 14: Year-wise aftershocks
Sr.No. Year No.of aftershocks
1 2001 953
2 2002 149
3 2003 53
Total 1,155
59
Elongated fractures in the cultivated fields of Vondh village
60
The Aftermath
Table 15: Significant earthquakes that have occurred in India

Earthquake Year Magnitude Approx. death toll
Bhuj (Gujarat) 1819 8.0 1,500
Bihar 1833 7.5 Hundreds
Near Cachar (Assam) 1869 7.5 Not available
Sopor (J&K) 1885 7.0 Not available
Shillong (Assam) 1897 8.7 1,500
Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) 1900 6.0 Not available
Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) 1905 8.0 19,000
Himachal Pradesh 1906 7.0 Not available
Srimangal (Assam) 1918 7.6 Not available
Dhubri (Assam) 1930 7.1 Not available
Bihar-Nepal Border 1934 8.3 11,000
Quetta (in Pakistan) 1935 7.6 30,000
Andaman Islands 1941 8.1 Not available
Assam 1943 7.2 Not available
Arunachal Pradesh-China Border 1950 8.5 4,000
North Eastern part of India 1952 7.5 Not available
Anjar (Gujarat) 1956 7.0 115
Bullandshahar (Uttar Pradesh) 1956 6.7 Not available
Kapkote (UP) 1958 6.3 Not available
Delhi 1960 6.0 Not available
Nicobar 1967 6.2 Not available
Koyna (Maharashtra) 1967 6.5 200
Bhadrachalam (Andhra Pradesh) 1969 5.3 Not available
Bharuch (Gujarat) 1970 5.2 26
Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh) 1975 6.2 Not available
Manipur-Myanmar Border 1988 6.6 Not available
Bihar-Nepal Border 1988 6.4 1004
Assam 1988 6.6 Not available
Uttarkashi (UP) 1991 6.6 769
Latur (Maharashtra) 1993 6.3 7,601
Jabalpur (MP) 1997 6.0 39
Chamoli (UP) 1999 6.8 103
Bhuj (Gujarat) 2001 6.9 13,805
Sources : IMD database and GSI (2000), p.17
61
62
Collapsed newly constructed bus stand at Vondh village close to the epicentre of the earthquake
The Aftermath
Most of these earthquakes occurred in rural areas. The distinguishing

feature of the 2001 earthquake in Kutch is that it affected both rural and
urban areas.
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) special publication No. 37
records the following four major earthquakes in Kutch during the last two
centuries:
Year MMI/Magnitude
1819 IX/8.3
1845 VIII/6.3
1903 VII/6.0
1956 IX/7.0
An important issue is the enforcement of seismic codes, particularly

in the areas that are more vulnerable to earthquakes, for example, seismic
zones IV and V. The district of Kutch is in seismic zone V. A moot point is
whether there was sufficient awareness of the seismic hazards among the
stakeholders in this and other areas.
A building code was introduced in India after the Quetta earthquake
of 1935. However, the first formal seismic code was published in 1962. A
seismic zone map of India was developed in 1962 based on past earth-
quakes. The map contained seven zones 06. The seismic zone was
revised in the 1966 and 1970 editions of the Indian Seismic Code. The
1966 version also contained seven seismic zones. It is interesting to note
that the Koyna earthquake of 1967 with a magnitude of 6.5, causing the
death of 200 people, occurred at a place in seismic Zone I. Consequently,
there was a major revision in the seismic zone map in the 1970 edition.
The revised map contained five zones, by merging Zone 0 with Zone 1,
and Zone 6 with Zone 5. The Latur earthquake of 1993 was of the magnitude
of 6.3, with a death toll of about 7,601. Latur was located in seismic zone
1. This event again necessitated a review of the seismic zone map. The
Latur area was included in Zone 3. The latest seismic zone map contains
four zones.3
3
This is based on the details in chapter 17 of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
(2002).
63
Seismic Zones of India
This map is not to scale and is indicative
64
The Aftermath
65
A view of the damage at Chirai village
Media Perceptions
As expected, there was widespread coverage and attention of the

media on all aspects of the earthquake. They covered rescue and relief,
distress of the people, losses, technical aspects, handling of the situation
by the state government and so on. Most of the articles focused on
individual distress, human-interest stories and deficiencies of the system.
They were extremely critical of the handling of the situation by the
government.
The role of the media is to bring out the facts and present the real
situation. However, in this case, some sections of the media did not try to
provide information with a broad perspective. They exaggerated the
deficiencies and shortfalls, without highlighting, but for some exceptional
cases, the excellent work done by many people in many situations. They
also tried to sensationalize some aspects. In a situation like this, it is not
feasible to provide relief and temporary shelter to thousands of families within
hours or in a day. Instead of highlighting the efforts made to procure such
materials and deliver relief to the affected persons, they adopted a negative
approach. They also speculated on figures relating to death and loss.
Based on media reports, some public interest litigations were filed in
the courts. A lot of time and energy of the officials were diverted to the
work of compiling and furnishing information in court cases.
This was in contrast to the media coverage in the context of the
attack on the World Trade Centre in the USA on 11 September 2001.
There was no speculation regarding death figures, there was no pressure
on the government to provide numbers and there was probably no undue
criticism during the immediate aftermath of the event.
One can and should, point to the inefficiencies of the system but it
should be in the context of the overall situation. Problems and deficiencies
should be analysed with a proper perspective of the magnitude and spread
of the disaster, and along with the work done under extremely difficult
circumstances.
66
The Aftermath
Some Experiences of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

(Japan) of 1995
An international workshop on post-earthquake reconstruction
experiences was held in Gandhidham on 30 September 2003. A paper
was presented here by Mashiko Murata, Project Manager, Disaster
Reduction and Human Renovation Institution, Kobe, which highlights the
following aspects:
" The headquarters for disaster management of local governments having
been damaged, the first response was very slow. The traffic system,
telecommunication system and even satellite telecommunication were
disrupted. It took three days for the national government to grasp the
magnitude of the damage.
" There was problem of coordination among various organizations. As
the local governments were affected, they could not communicate
with the national government and other agencies.
" Disruption of traffic and communication systems and lack of
information caused confusion in respect of logistics relating to supply
and delivery of relief materials.
" More than 80 per cent of the death was due to collapse of buildings.
Most of the damaged buildings had not complied with the building
codes.
" Most of the cases of rescue of people from collapsed buildings were
due to the efforts of local communities.
There is an interesting book entitled The Great Hanshin-Awaji

Earthquake As Seen by a Firefighter by Kazuhiro Yoshimoto, who was
working in the Kobe City Fire department during the earthquake of 1995.
He enumerates some of the problems faced immediately after the
earthquake:
" Numerous supporting teams coming from other parts of the country
were trapped in the traffic jams.
" Three fire stations were out of service due to total damage.
" The Fire Department took a lot of time to assess the magnitude of the
disaster as almost all the teams were deployed in rescue operations.
67
" The supporting fire-fighting teams drawn from various parts of the
country had only one communication frequency which caused a
bottleneck in rescue operations.
It is interesting to look at two other observations by the same author:
The two ambulances of Hyogo Fire station were in full operation
for a whole day to transport the injured citizens to the hospitals.
Communication became overcharged and the ambulance phone system
was down so there was no advance notice to hospitals of incoming
injuries. Emergency teams found it hard to return to the fire station
because roads were congested and disorderly. It took much more
time to return (Yoshimoto, 2002, p. 56).
Rescue workers of other prefectures came every day to Kobe to
support our efforts. It might be possible for doctors, if only for
consultations officially, to accompany rescue staff on the ambulance.
The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake apparently caught everyone off
guard. It seems no municipality made requests for doctors to ride
emergency vehicles with rescue team even though there is a project
that fire departments dispatch doctors in its helicopters in its emergency
medical procedures in the event of the earthquake. The vulnerability
in our emergency medical operation is attributable to poor lateral linkage
in addition to Japanese bureaucratic sectionalism between fire and
medical organizations (ibid., p. 62).
In the same book, Takashi Shintani, an instructor in the Hyogo Fire
Station, describes his experiences on the day of the earthquake. He
concludes:
My brain no longer functioned properly. Such was January 17 to
me. The thoughts that developed in my mind during the aftermath of
the earthquake are countless. I regret that I didnt do more and do it
better. Yet, as I look back we, the fire fighters, were powerless. What
we needed the most was water and that was beyond our control. I
feel deeply disappointed and shamed. We did all we could do. All the
fire fighters did their best (Yoshimoto 2002, p. 54).
Many people must have felt the same way in the context of the Kutch
earthquakeas well as of the Marmara (Turkey) and Chi-Chi (Taiwan)
earthquakes.
68
IV Assessment of Damage and
Immediate Needs
T he task of damage assessment was massive. Initially, during the first

week, teams were sent to hundreds of villages to make preliminary
assessments of death and damage. Subsequently, for detailed assessments,
surveys were undertaken by the revenue department for housing, by the
industries department for industrial units and by many other departments
for their respective sectors such as roads, buildings, power system and
ports. It is worthwhile to note that the sectors that suffered the heaviest
damage due to the earthquake were housing and social infrastructure.
A comprehensive assessment of damages and needs was made by a
Joint Assessment Team from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat
and the Government of India. The team visited Gujarat between 1226
February 2001. It prepared a draft report on 28 February 2001, based on
discussions with the Government of Gujarat and the Government of India.
The report was finalized on 14 March 2001. The report contained the best
possible damage assessment at the end of February 2001. The data was
updated subsequently based on a more detailed review.
Assessment of damage to housing units posed the greatest challenge
because of the number, complexity and the spread in terms of geographical
area. Some aspects of this process are described in the following
paragraphs. Then there are details, based on the report of the Joint
Assessment Team, of damage to various sectors, particularly physical
and social infrastructure.
Assessment of Damage to Houses

The task of damage assessment was much more complex in
69
Ahmedabad. There was panic among the residents of even those buildings
which were not damaged or had suffered minor damage. Further, even
reputed professionals were not very familiar with seismic engineering
aspects.
During the first three or four days, local engineersparticularly those
associated with the Gujarat Institute of Civil Engineers and Architects
(GICEA)inspected many buildings and tried to classify them. Two
structural engineers from Hyderabad came to Ahmedabad and made
available some guidelines and booklets. In course of time, many other
experts arrived. The state government also obtained some guidelines from
Government of India organizations. Some pamphlets were prepared and
circulated.
A.S. Arya, Professor Emeritus, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Roorkee and a number of other experts came to Ahmedabad. They were
earlier associated with the classification of damage in the context of the
Latur earthquake. In the case of Latur, most of the damaged buildings
were made of stone masonry. The damage classification ranged from G0
to G5. G0 stands for no damage and G5 for collapsed buildings. This
classification was modified for Gujarat by an expert group under the
chairmanship of A.S. Arya with a view to including RCC frame buildings,
load-bearing masonry buildings and load-bearing wooden frame buildings.
In Ahmedabad, CEPT was requested to carry out a damage assessment
survey for multi-storeyed residential buildings. As the organization did not
have the adequate number of personnel for the surveys, it appealed to
structural engineers from other parts of India to volunteer their services.
About 160 structural engineers from various parts of the country including
Gujarat, participated. In addition, about 80 postgraduate/final year
undergraduate students of engineering colleges in Gujarat and 30 junior
engineers participated in this project. Each damage survey team consisted
of a senior structural engineer, a junior engineer (who could be a senior
engineering student), one cameraman and one representative of the local
authority. Each team was provided with a vehicle and a driver. The survey
work continued for about three months and 5,887 buildings were surveyed.
Based on the damage survey, the senior engineer of the team would submit
a report with his recommendation to the CEPT. A group of engineers
70
Assessment of Damage and Immediate Needs
from CEPT would scrutinize the report and finalize the category of damage.
Buildings other than those surveyed by CEPT were surveyed by the teams
deployed by the Revenue Department. They surveyed 20,160 buildings.
Another important aspect was short-term repair and retrofitting of
buildings which were damaged. In many cases, such repairs were
undertaken with the help of local architects and engineers. The GICEA in
Ahmedabad issued some guidelines on repairing and strengthening of
buildings. These measures did not effectively incorporate a scientific
approach to retrofitting. About two months after the earthquake, the AMC
organized a meeting of structural engineers from Ahmedabad and outside
the state, and finalized some guidelines for retrofitting of structures.
However, much remains to be done on this aspect because detailed
guidelines, based on local conditions and sound technical knowledge, need
to be formulated.
Assessment of damage in rural areas was an extremely difficult task.
Thousands of villages were affected. It was necessary to complete the
assessment of damage for a large number of houses within a short time.
Teams were formed, each consisting of three members: an engineer, a
revenue/panchayat official and a representative of an NGO/social worker.
It was necessary to mobilize both technical and non-technical officials,
on a large scale. Departments such as Roads and Buildings, Irrigation and
Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd., which together account for most
of the technical personnel in the government sector, had to play a crucial
role.
For the purpose of damage assessment 2,051 teams comprising 2,932
technical people, 1,794 revenue officers and 2,798 others, were constituted.
All of them had to be properly briefed and oriented for the complex task.
It was also necessary to have uniformity in approach and methodology
when such a large number of teams undertook the work in different areas.
Detailed formats were prepared for the purpose of damage assessment.
Guidelines were issued for detailed documentation.
Based on their visits and assessment, the teams classified houses and
other structures into five categoriesG-1 to G-5. Broadly, the following
criteria were adopted:
71
Damage Classification
Minor cracks up to inch width G-1
Upto 10% G-2
Upto 25% G-3
Upto 50% G-4
Total damage G-5
There were problems of interpretation in some cases. Remedial

measures had to be taken. Clarifications had to be issued. For this purpose,
there were several rounds of discussion at the state level. The meetings
were held by the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary.
There were many complaints from villages. In some cases, people
complained that their properties had not been surveyed. In others, the
complaint was that the properties were classified at a lower category than
they should have been. There were requests for a re-survey. There was
also tremendous pressure from peoples representatives such as panchayat
members and MLAs for re-survey. In some cases the re-survey was
undertaken twice. At the time of the re-survey, some properties were
upgraded while others were downgraded, based on additional information.
The original survey report was prepared based on records, field surveys
and photographs. This practice was adopted in most cases, though in
some it was not feasible. Re-surveys can turn out to be an unending
process. There is quite often a tendency to try to get the maximum available
assistance. Therefore a cut-off date was decided. The Commissioner of
Relief instructed the district collectors, by a letter of 30 June 2001, that
only the applications for re-surveys received up to 15 June 2001 be
considered and that the work should be completed by 7 July 2001. The
matter was reconsidered by the Revenue Department on 22 October 2001;
it was decided that applications for re-survey received till 15 August 2001
would be considered and the work should be completed in one month.
The damage assessment in rural areas and small towns was a
challenging task because more than a million families were involved. In
many cases, people had more than one house. In some cases, there were
tenants. There were also multi-storeyed buildings with owners of flats/
apartments. Some houses were closed and their owners lived elsewhere.
72
In some cases there were attempts to take undue benefits. There

were also instances of activist groups who organized demonstrations by
people and raised many issues.
Thus, the issues involved technical, factual and legal aspects. The
task of damage and loss assessment can be baffling, especially when over
a million properties and thousands of surveyors are involved. No doubt
there were problems in some cases. Yet, one can say that such a gigantic
task was accomplished with a reasonable degree of objectivity and
promptness. It is interesting to briefly mention some findings pertaining
to damage assessment:
A social impact assessment undertaken by M.S. University, Vadodara
analysed, among other aspects, the process of damage assessment. It
reported that the damage assessment by the Government of Gujarat for
the housing sector was systematic and with a high level of transparency
that ensured community participation and acceptance of the results. A
team of three people ensured transparency in the assessment.
The damage assessment focused on types of houses, nature and
category of damage. Aspects relating to ownership and occupation were
also considered. The study concludes that the process of damage
assessment was effectively handled, even though numerous issues of
varied complexity arose. Of course, there were cases where the individuals
did not accept the survey results and requested a re-survey. Some people
delayed reconstruction with the expectation that there would be a re-
survey of the damage. Sometimes, unfair means such as causing further
damage were adopted. Often, people claimed assistance for more than
one house. Others compared the assistance received by people in the
neighbouring villages and complained of injustice and inequity. Based on a
sample survey, the social impact assessment study finds that in many
cases the complaints were not based on facts.
When the task is massive and the assessment is to be done over a
wide area, it is but natural that problems arise. People will always have a
tendency to have the damage assessed at the highest category so that they
can get the maximum financial assistance. On the other hand, there were
complaints regarding favouritism and corruption. Most studies and
observations find that given the size of the task and magnitude of the
problem, such occurrences were minimal and only by way of aberration.
73
Assessment of Damage by the Joint Assessment Team
Housing
A preliminary assessment by the Joint Assessment Team on 23
February 2001, indicated that about 400,000 dwelling units collapsed and
about 500,000 were partially damaged. A subsequent estimate by the
Government of Gujarat put the partially-damaged houses at 800,000. The
figures were refined from time to time. It was found that a number of
commercial premises had initially been counted as dwelling units. There
were also changes in the category on account of the re-survey of structures
in many cases. The latest numbers of collapsed and damaged dwelling
units are 215,255 and 928,369 respectively.
It was estimated that the losses due to damage and destruction of
houses including the value of household goods would be to the extent of
Rs 5,166 crores (US $ 1.1 billion). According to an estimate by the
Government of Gujarat, it was Rs 10,000 crores. The cost of reconstruction
was estimated to be Rs 5,148 crores. The Joint Assessment Team also
drew the attention to additional impacts in the form of high social costs of
homelessness, psychological trauma, poor health and loss of earning.
The immediate steps which were required in the context of widespread
damage to housing included:
" careful and transparent damage assessment;
" provision of temporary shelters;
" debris removal;
" consultation with the people to decide whether they will reconstruct
in-situ or relocate themselves; and
" arrangements for the appropriate construction of hazard-resistant
houses.
Health
There was extensive damage to health infrastructure. Two district
hospitals (at Bhuj and Gandhidham), 21 Community Health Centres (CHCs),
74
48 Primary Health Centres (PHCs), 227 sub-centres, 800 anganwadis, six

Integrated Child Development Schemes (ICDS) godowns, 11 Chief District
Project Offices (CDPOs), 96 ayurveda dispensaries, 21 homeopathic
dispensaries and one food laboratory, were completely destroyed. In
addition, a number of buildings suffered major and minor damages. The
total damage was estimated at Rs 219 crores. The cost of reconstruction
was estimated to be Rs 279 crores. Some details are given in Table 16 below.
Table 16: Assessment of damage to health facilities and equipment
Type of facility Number of facilities Rs (Million)

Complete Partial
Sub-centre 227 357 362

PHC 48 118 550
CHC 21 46 671
District/taluka hospital 5 26 317
ICDS:
(i) Anganwadi centre 800 2,180 122
(ii) CDPO office 11 4 2
(iii) Godown 6 4 4
Ayurvedic hospital/
dispensary 110 8 30
District TB Hospital/
training centre - 8 10
Adm. building/
training centre - 14 20
Food and drug laboratory 1 1 5
Medical colleges and
speciality hospitals - 15 55
Municipal (including
AMC) hospitals - 10 53
Total 2,199
75
Education
Educational activities were affected in many districts on account of

the damage to physical infrastructure. The worst affected districts were:
Kutch, Banaskantha, Patan, Rajkot and Surendranagar. About 1,884 school
buildings collapsed with 5,950 classrooms that were totally destroyed.
Many school buildings were damaged. In all, 9,593 primary school buildings
were damaged or destroyed. Consequently, over 42,000 schoolrooms
needed to be repaired. It is interesting to note that about three-fourths of
the newly constructed pre-cast structures erected for speedy construction
of classrooms during 19992000 were either destroyed or damaged. Table
17 indicates the damage to the educational institutions.
Table 17: Assessment of damage to educational facilities
Sector Institutions affected
1) Primary education
School buildings 9593
Teacher training institutes 42
2) Kitchens for midday meal programme 1871
3) Secondary/higher secondary education
Government schools 127
Grant-in-aid schools 1913
4) Higher education
(universities & colleges) 47
5) Technical education
(polytechnics & engineering colleges) 58
Dam safety and irrigation
There are many small and medium earthen dams and reservoirs in
Kutch and Saurashtra, which are arid zones with low rainfall. These dams
and reservoirs facilitate storage and availability of water for the purpose
of drinking and, to some extent, irrigation. There are 20 medium irrigation
schemes and 165 minor irrigation schemes in Kutch. There was widespread
76
A government school in Bhuj
77
and extensive damage to earthen dams. In most cases there was cracking
and displacement of the upstream sides of the dam slopes. Of 20 medium
dams, 16 suffered damage, out of which five were severely damaged.
Similarly, 80 out of 165 minor dams were damaged, out of which 14 were
severely damaged. In the Saurashtra area, 61 dams suffered minor to
moderate damage.
It was necessary to identify the dams which had become unsafe for
impounding water, so as to undertake urgent repair before the monsoon
(June-July 2001). The repair of other dams was also necessary in order
to ensure the supply of drinking water. This work was undertaken on an
urgent basis. The total cost of the damages was estimated to be Rs 186
crores. In order to repair and strengthen the dams and make them
earthquake resistant it was estimated that an amount of Rs 419 crores
would be required.4
Rural water supply
The drinking water supply system was adversely affected in 1,340

villages of the following five districts: Banaskantha, Jamnagar, Kutch,
Rajkot and Surendranagar. Out of these, 1,100 villages, particularly in
Kutch, Rajkot and Jamnagar, were severely affected. In Kutch, the water
supply depends mainly on ground water supplemented by surface water
from Tappar and Shivlakha dams. Rajkot and Jamnagar depend on the
Machhu-II dam and a few ground water schemes. Surface water schemes
(dams, pumping stations, pipelines and water treatment plants) as well as
ground water schemes (121 regional schemes covering 693 villages and
191 individual schemes) were affected to varying degrees. The most
severely damaged facilities were: two dams, two water treatment plants,
over 350 tube wells with pumping equipment and pump houses, and over
1500 km of pipelines. The RCC underground tanks and overhead tanks
could withstand the impact, whereas masonry structures collapsed. Other
damages were ruptures and dislocation of transmission pipelines, resulting
in leakages. The total amount of damage was estimated to be Rs 233
crores. The estimated cost of reconstruction including upgrading for hazard
resistant construction was around Rs 451 crores.
4
The actual requirement was less than what was estimated by the irrigation department.
78
Municipal infrastructure
There are six municipal corporations and 143 municipalities in Gujarat.

Five municipal corporations and 57 municipalities were affected by the
earthquake. There were damages to urban and environmental infrastructure
such as the water supply, storage system, sanitation, solid waste
management, municipal roads, municipal dispensaries, street lighting,
municipal administrative buildings, and other buildings such as laboratories,
town halls, and municipal markets. Severe damage occurred in 14 towns
of Kutch, Rajkot and Surendranagar districts. The worst affected towns
were: Anjar, Bhachau, Bhuj, Gandhidham and Rapar in the Kutch district,
and Morbi in the Rajkot district. The municipal infrastructure in Ahmedabad
city suffered damage. The other towns which suffered losses were Mandvi
(Kutch district), Wankaner (Rajkot district), Dhrangadhra, Halvad, Limdi,
Surendranagar, Thangadh and Wadhwan (Surendranagar district). The
damage caused was estimated to be Rs 140 crores and the replacement
cost with upgrading, Rs 209 crores.
Public buildings and historic monuments
The public buildings relate to the Roads and Buildings Department,

the Police Department and the Department of Sports, Youth Services and
Cultural Activities. They include both administrative buildings and residential
quarters. As in the case of housing, most of the public buildings destroyed
were located in the Kutch district. At least 12 court buildings and 12 jails
and sub-jails were badly damaged. The buildings which collapsed were
mostly old, one or two-storeyed structures with masonry walls. They
were mainly load-bearing structures. The total damage was estimated at
Rs 339 crores. The cost of reconstruction of public buildings was estimated
at Rs 442 crores. The details of the damaged buildings are given in
Table 18.
79
Museum at Bhuj
80
Table 18: Number of public buildings affected by the earthquake
Type of Building Total Gujarat Kutch District

Destroyed Damaged Destroyed Damaged
A. Administrative
Urban 137 859 120 184
Rural 57 95 53 24
Total (Buildings) 194 954 173 208
B. Residential
Urban 184 901 153 24
Rural 67 118 65 95
Total (Units) 251 1,019 218 119
Note: The figures do not include buildings under the Police Department that are
indicated in Table 18.1.
Table 18.1: Number of police department buildings affected

by the earthquake
Type of Building Destroyed Damaged
Administrative 10 122
Residential 1,257 4,932
In Gujarat there are numerous heritage structures. The earthquake-

affected areas, particularly Kutch, have evidence of the Indus Valley
Civilization.
There are 212 protected monuments with the Archaeological Survey
of India, out of which 69 structures were affected due to the earthquake:
two of them completely collapsed, 25 had major damage and 42 monuments
had minor damage. One of the collapsed monuments was Maharao Lakhpatji
Chhatri at Bhuj. The State Department of Archaeology has indicated 330
monuments as protected monuments, out of which 101 were moderately
damaged, 32 had major damage and one monument collapsed. Among
these are the old temples of Kutch at Purneshwar, Kanthkot, Bhubaneshwar
Mahadev and Kera, as well as other structures such as Lakhota in Jamnagar.
81
There are many heritage buildings used for public purposes such as
schools, hospitals, administrative buildings, museums, rest houses, police
stations and officers bungalows. There were about 3,000 such
administrative buildings, out of which 954 were damaged and 194 were
destroyed. As regards residential quarters, about 1,000 were damaged
and 250 were destroyed. Some examples of such public buildings are the
Jubilee Hospital at Bhuj, the Deputy Collectors office at Anjar, Rapar
police station and the Collectors residence at Bhuj.
In addition to the above categories, there are a large number of
monuments which are unprotected and unrecognized, most of which are
privately owned. Reliable data on such monuments are not available.
According to an estimate by INTACH, at least 10,000 such buildings and
sites, which include palaces, old havelis, wells, chhattries, places of religious
significance, clock towers, gateways, and pavilions, located in 250 towns
and many villages, were affected by the earthquake. Some important ones
are the Darbargarh of Kutch, Aina Mahal, Prag Mahal, the Vegetable Market,
Taksal Mosque and Rudrani temple in Bhuj, and the Green Tower, Ram
Malhol temple, Morvi Palace, Pratap Vilas and Sai School in Jamnagar.
According to the WB and ADB joint assessment report, out of the
329 monuments protected by the Government of Gujarat, 33 suffered
major damage and a 100 suffered some damage such as major and minor
cracks. Many unprotected historic buildings and monuments had been
damaged or destroyed.
Power
The earthquake caused extensive damage to the power supply facilities
in Kutch and other districts such as Banaskanta, Jamnagar, Rajkot and
Surendranagar. Some power stations sustained minor losses, but
transmission and distribution systems suffered severe damages.
The Kutch Lignite Thermal Power Station at Panandro in Kutch district
sustained some minor damage. The building for the Diesel Generator (DG)
set at Bhuj was also damaged. Cracks developed in the Sikka Thermal
Power Station building, damaging equipment and overhead tanks. There
was also some damage at the Dhuvaran Thermal Power Station.
82
There was damage to the 220-KV sub-stations at Anjar, Nakhatrana

and Nani Kakhar, two 132-KV sub-stations at Samakhiyali and Bhuj and
44 sub-stations of 66 KV in Bhuj, Rajkot, Surendranagar and Jamnagar
circles. The most severe damage was to the 220 KV sub-station at Anjar
and about 20 66-KV sub-stations in the Bhuj circle. The control rooms
collapsed damaging the control panels and battery banks underneath. Power
transformers were detached and toppled over.
In addition to the power transmission system there was extensive
damage to the distribution system affecting most of the villages in the
region. The total loss to the power sector was estimated to be Rs 186
crores. The cost of reconstruction and upgradation was estimated at Rs
456 crores.
Transport infrastructure
Transport infrastructure includes roads, bridges, rail, port and airport
infrastructure. The transport sector suffered relatively less, compared to
the other sectors.
In the road sector, maximum damage was caused to bridges and
culverts. The old Surajbari bridge, which had been constructed in the
1960s, suffered significant damage during the earthquake. The bridge
was closed to traffic for the first two days. It was temporarily restored
for slow and single-lane traffic. Five weeks after the earthquake, the New
Surajbari bridge was commissioned.
The railway infrastructure suffered relatively minor destruction. Most
of the damage was to buildings stations and staff quarterswith some
minor damage to structures and signaling infrastructure. Rail links which
had been discontinued were restored quickly.
With regard to ports, there was significant damage to the Kandla port.
Five of the 10 dry cargo jetties developed major cracks. The oil jetty and
a small wharf were damaged. Some mechanical and electrical equipment
were also damaged. Twelve of the 40 ports managed by the Gujarat
Maritime Board were damaged; the Navlakhi port was the most affected.
Most of the marine structures, cargo handling equipment, storage facilities,
residential/office buildings, roads, bridges, etc., were destroyed.
83
Highway to Bhuj
84
85
A disrupted rail track in Navalakhi port area
Railway station at Bhachau
86
The airport at Bhuj suffered some damage to the runway and major
destruction to the old terminal building. However, there was already a
new terminal building under construction, which was made operational in
September 2003. There was some damage to the terminal building at the
airport at Kandla and very minor damage to other airports such as those at
Rajkot and Porbandar.
The damage to the transport sector was assessed at about Rs 233
crores for roads; Rs 79 crores for railways; Rs 198 crores for ports; and
Rs 19 crores for airports.
Telecommunication
There was extensive damage to the telecommunication system. About
80,000 lines were out of commission due to the collapse of telephone
exchange buildings. In Bhuj, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Surendranagar, 179
exchange buildings and 146 staff quarters were destroyed. The amount
of damage to telecommunication facilities was estimated to be Rs 51 crores.
The total reconstruction cost was estimated at Rs 121 crores.
Extensive damage to telecom buildings affected the communication
system. The exchanges at Bhachau, Khavda, Nakhatrana and Rapar were
set up in tents. In Nakhatrana and Rapar, facilities were restored in the
original buildings after the main exchange was restored. Due to the severe
damage to the original buildings, two exchanges were set up in tents, 10
exchanges in other locations and eight exchanges were set up in nearby
buildings.
Agriculture and livestock

Agriculture had been severely affected by two consecutive years of
drought. The earthquake added to the plight of the farmers. According to
the estimate of the Government of Gujarat, the total loss of assets was
estimated at Rs 544 crores. The Joint Assessment Team estimated the
loss of assets in private sector agriculture and livestock at Rs 509 crores.
Major asset losses related to irrigation assets such as bore wells, pump
houses and water storage tanks. There was damage also to storage bins,
87
88
Damage to the telephone exchange in Khavda village

farm implements, plant protection equipment, stored output and inputs

and livestock. The damage to public sector assets was estimated at Rs 35
crores, which included public buildings of the Agriculture Department,
Gujarat Agricultural University and animal husbandry units. Output losses
due to the earthquake were estimated to be about Rs 228 crores. Such
losses were due to the delay in picking the standing crops of cotton and
castor, the lack of irrigation at a critical stage, and the lack of farm storage
facilities.
Industry
Damage to industrial units mostly occurred in Kutch, Rajkot, Jamnagar,
Bhavnagar and Surendranagar. This related to industrial buildings, machinery
and inventory. The damage was initially estimated at Rs 340 crores.
According to the Joint Assessment Report, there were losses to about
3,000 small-scale industrial units and a number of medium and large-scale
enterprises.5
Gandhidham and Kutch have many wood-based industries. The Kandla
Free Trade Zone and the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation
(GIDC) estate also house many industries. Bhachau has a number of salt
units. The GIDC estates at Bhuj and Anjar also suffered severe damage.
In Rajkot, there was damage to buildings, chimneys and kilns of ceramic
industries at Morbi and Wankaner. Similar damage occurred in the
Surendranagar district. Some of the structures belonging to the Indian
Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) at Kandla were also damaged.
In this context, it is important to note that a large number of people in
Kutch and other areas affected by the earthquake earn their livelihood
from handicraft and handlooms.
Service sector
The five most affected districts, namely, Kutch, Rajkot, Jamnagar,
Patan and Surendranagar, have a large number of commercial and trade
establishments. They include wholesale and retail shops, restaurants and
hotels. There are large shopping areas in Gandhidham. All these
establishments were damaged. The total losses were estimated at Rs 1,163
crore. The output loss was estimated at Rs 1,748 crore.
5
A later estimate by the Government of Gujarat indicates that in 19 districts 9736 small
industrial units and 125 medium/large industries were affected, the estimated damage
being Rs. 406 crores and Rs. 314 crores respectively.
89
A factory near Bhachau
90
A damaged factory on Rapar road
91
Overall Assessment of Asset Losses and Reconstruction Cost

The overall estimates of asset losses and reconstruction cost prepared
by the Joint Assessment Team are given in Table 19.
Table 19: Sector-wise asset losses and reconstruction costs (Rs Crore)
Sector Asset Losses Reconstruction cost
Housing 5,166 5,148

Health 219 279
Education 670 837
Sub total: Social sectors 6,054 6,264
Irrigation 186 419
Rural water supply 233 451
Municipal infrastructure 140 209
Public buildings and monuments 339 442
Power 186 456
Transport 321 358
Ports 98 121
Telecommunications 51 121
Sub total: Infrastructure 1,553 2,576
Agriculture and livestock 544 344
Industry 339 205
Services 1,163 930
Sub total: Productive sectors 2,046 1,479
Sub total: Environment 256 256
Grand Total 9,909 10,575
Source: WB and ADB (2001), p. 12.
According to the WB/ADB Joint Assessment Team, the asset losses

were estimated at Rs 9,909 crores and reconstruction cost at Rs 10,575
crores. On the other hand, the Government of Gujarat placed the losses at
Rs 15,308 crores and reconstruction cost at Rs 11,499 crores.The
difference was mainly due to the estimated loss in respect of the housing
sector, which, according to the Government of Gujarat estimate, was Rs
10,000 crores against the WB estimate of Rs 5,166 crores.
92
The actual expenditure on housing is likely to be much less than what

is estimated. This is because the housing packages envisage assistance to
the extent of the minimum requirement for housing. They do not
compensate the entire loss. In fact, middle class and high-income families
got much less than what they lost due to the earthquakeless than even
what they spent on reconstruction.
The total financial loss includes primary loss (loss of assets), secondary
loss (loss of output due to disruption of economic activities) and tertiary
loss because of the long-term effects on the economy. Table 20 indicates
these three types of losses as estimated by the Government of Gujarat.
Table 20: Total financial loss (Rs Crore)
Type of loss Financial loss

Primary loss 15,308
Secondary loss 3,048
Tertiary loss 10,067
Source: Government of Gujarat
93
V Transition from Relief to Recovery
T he Government of Gujarat tried to ensure that the transition from the

relief phase to recovery was smooth and brief. Even when short-
term rescue and relief operations were being undertaken, medium and
long-term recovery aspects were analysed. Rehabilitation schemes, or
packages, were also formulated.
Shelter
Gradually, the issue of interim shelter and reconstruction of houses
was brought up. People cannot live in tents for a very long time. It was
necessary to provide interim shelters till permanent houses were
constructed. Many alternatives were explored. Presentations, even to the
State Cabinet, were made by experts and specialized agencies.
For the purpose of interim accommodation, land was identified at
Bhuj and infrastructure such as road, water supply and electricity were
provided. Similar sites were identified at Bhachau and Anjar. Those who
did not like the sites identified, were given other options for interim
accommodation. Some people opted for galvanized iron sheets, some for
cash assistance and others for rented premises. The Government of Gujarat
provided assistance in the form of materials and cash to about 218,000
families. NGOs supplemented the efforts by providing interim shelter to
about 7,000 families.
A few weeks later, the issue of permanent shelter and reconstruction
programmes came to the fore. On the one hand, experts advised that the
policy of housing and the overall reconstruction should be analysed in
94
Transition from Relief to Recovery
depth before a final policy was announced. On the other hand, there was
tremendous pressure from the people and the media asking the government
to announce its policy of assistance for reconstruction. Housing packages
or schemes were to be conceptualized and finalized. A task force was
constituted to formulate schemes for reconstruction of houses on 7
February 2001. K.V. Bhanujan, a retired IAS officer with prior experience
in disaster management, was appointed chairman of this task force. Other
members were principal secretaries of departments such as health,
revenue, urban development, finance and roads and buildings.
During the immediate aftermath of the disaster, numerous meetings
were held and many hours of discussion took place. The Chief Minister
of Gujarat and senior cabinet ministers participated in all those
deliberations.
The above-mentioned task force analysed various aspects of
rehabilitation and reconstruction and prepared some schemes for housing.
The schemes were examined by the GSDMA, which forwarded the
schemes for the issuance of a government order. On 23 February 2001,
four government resolutions were issued sanctioning packages or schemes
1, 2, 3, 4-A and 4-B. Subsequently, another government resolution was
issued on 24 April 2001, announcing a fifth package for the four towns of
Bhuj, Bhachau, Anjar and Rapar. Thus, five schemes were announced in
less than a month of the earthquake and another housing scheme, within
three months.
Package 1 is meant for villages with more than 70 per cent of structures
damaged. Such villages could be relocated with the consent of the villagers.
For this purpose, the Gram Sabha or the Village Council would pass a
resolution. Different categories of households such as landless labourers,
marginal farmers, small farmers and other farmers are entitled to plots of
different sizes and construction areas (Table 21). The state government
assistance covers the cost of construction of houses (@ Rs 2,400 per sq.
mt), cost of land acquisition and cost of primary infrastructure. It was
estimated that the cost of setting up a village of 200 families would be
about Rs 3 crores.
95
Table 21: Plot size and construction area in package 1

meant for relocation of villages
S. No. Category Plot area sq.m Construction area sq.m
1. Landless agricultural
labourers 100 30
2. Marginal farmers (up
to 1 hectare landholding) 150 40
3. Small farmers (between 1
to 4 hectares landholding),
small traders, artisans
and others 250 40
4. Farmers with more than
4 hectares landholding 400 50
Package 2 is for villages that are located in seismic zones IV and V

and for in-situ reconstruction, i.e., those villages that are not to be relocated.
Details of assistance for completely damaged and partially damaged houses
are given in Tables 21.1 and 21.2. For completely damaged houses,
assistance is disbursed in three installments: 40 per cent at the preparatory
level, 40 per cent when the construction reaches the lintel level and the
remaining 20 per cent, after completion of construction.
Table 21.1: Assistance under package 2 for destroyed houses
S.No. Type of Damage Assistance

1. Completely destroyed hut Rs 40,000 per unit
2. Completely destroyed house:

(a) the existing built-up area is up to 25 sq.m Up to Rs 50,000
(b) the existing built-up area is up to 35 sq.m Up to Rs 70,000
(c) the existing built-up area is up to 45 sq.m Up to Rs 90,000
96
Table 21.2: Assistance under package 2 for partially-damaged houses
S.No. Type of damage Assistance

1. If there are cracks of at least
inch width Up to Rs 3,000
2. Damage up to 10% Up to Rs 7,000
Package 3 is for villages which are outside seismic zones IV and V.

The details of assistance are given in Table 21.3.
Table 21.3: Assistance under package 3 for destroyed

and partially-damaged houses
S.No. Type of Damage Assistance

1. Completely destroyed hut Rs 7,000
2. Partially-damaged hut Rs 2,000
Destroyed/partially-damaged houses:
3. If there are cracks of at least 1/2 inch width Up to Rs 2,000
4. For repair of damage up to 10% Up to Rs 5,000
7. Completely damaged kachcha/pucca houses Up to Rs 40,000
Package 4 is for urban areas excluding the four towns of Kutch. It

has two components: one for buildings with RCC structures (4A) and the
other for buildings with load-bearing structures (4B).
In Package 4A, for collapsed buildings or those pulled down for safety
reasons, assistance at the rate of Rs 3,500 per sq. m, up to 50 sq.m (up to
Rs 1,75,000) is paid. For repair of non-multi-storeyed RCC buildings,
assistance was provided as per Table 21.4. Details of assistance in respect
of multi-storeyed residential buildings (low-rise and high-rise) are given in
97
Table 21.5. For this purpose, low-rise buildings are those up to ground
plus three storeys or open ground storey plus four storeys with a building
height limitation of 15 m.
Table 21.4: Assistance under package 4A for repair and

strengthening of non-multi-storeyed residential RCC structures

1. More than inch width cracks Up to Rs 2,000
2. 10% or more damage Up to Rs 5,000
Table 21.5: Assistance under package 4A for repair and

strengthening of multi-storeyed buildings
1. Buildings placed in Category G-2

(a) Low-rise buildings Up to Rs 50,000
(b) High-rise buildings Up to Rs 100,000


Package 4 B is meant for load-bearing structure buildings. For buildings

which have collapsed or been pulled down due to safety reasons, assistance
is at the rate of Rs 2800 per sq.m for up to 50 sq.m (i.e., up to a total of
Rs 140,000). For collapsed huts, the assistance is up to a maximum of Rs
2000. For repairs and strengthening assistance, see Table 21.6.
98
Table: 21.6: Assistance under package 4B for repair and

strengthening of low-rise, load-bearing residential buildings

1. More than inch width cracks Up to Rs 2,000
Package 5 is for the four towns of Kutch: Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and
Rapar. In these towns construction of buildings with a maximum height
of up to ground plus two storeys are permitted. For load-bearing
construction, the assistance is as per Table 21.7 below:
Table 21.7: Assistance under package 5 for repair and reconstruction

of load-bearing structure houses in the four towns of Kutch
Damage category Assistance

G5 Rs 3000 per sq.m up to a maximum of Rs 1,50,000
G4 Up to Rs 45,000
G3 Up to Rs 30,000
G2 Up to Rs 15,000
G1 Up to Rs 8,000
Fully collapsed hut Rs 7,000
For completely collapsed RCC buildings, the cash assistance is at the

rate of Rs 3000 per sq.m up to 50 sq.m (i.e., up to a total of Rs 1,50,000).
For damaged RCC buildings, the assistance is the same as in package 4A,
meant for other urban towns.
It was also envisaged to provide housing assistance to the relevant
groups of affected persons under the Indira Awas Yojana and other ongoing
housing programmes.
99
Removal of Debris
The removal of debris was a critical issue. In the beginning, some
amount of debris had to be removed in order to enable vehicles to move to
the affected areas for facilitating rescue operations. However, the
systematic removal of debris started only after a few days. Initially, people
did not want the debris to be removed. Many of them wanted to search
for their household goods and other belongings. They felt that they would
not be able to recover their belongings if debris were removed. A decision
was taken by the state government after a few days to take up debris
removal in a big way. This was necessary in order to bring about normalcy
and to prevent the outbreak of disease.
The Roads and Buildings Department undertook the clearance of debris
from Bhuj city and rural areas, with the assistance of the Army, the Gujarat
Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), Surat Municipal Corporation
and the Gujarat Ship Breaking Association. The Irrigation Department
was given the responsibility of the debris removal work in Bhachau taluka.
During this operation, the Government of Maharashtra, the Bombay
Municipal Corporation, the ONGC, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam
Limited (SSNNL) and Army units collaborated by providing equipment
and personnel. In Anjar city, the work was undertaken by Reliance
Industries, SSNNL and private contractors. The Kandla Port Trust took
up debris clearance work in the Gandhidham area. It engaged some private
contractors also for this purpose. In Rapar taluka the Irrigation Department,
the GMDC, the Roads and Building Department and the Government of
Haryana took up the clearance of debris in various areas.
Thus, the work of removal of debris was undertaken through many
agencies. In the first phase, the work was completed in respect of roads
and public places. Some debris remained in the interior areas of cities,
especially of Bhuj because there were narrow lanes and no vehicle could
pass through them. The work had to be done manually. As people
commenced repair work and tried to replace some parts of the damaged
structures there was more debris. Some buildings which were dangerous
for public safety had to be pulled down by controlled demolition. Debris
was also lying in private premises, both in urban and rural areas.
100
In the rural areas, debris was removed through drought relief work
particularly in the villages of Kutch. For this purpose, a daily wage of
Rs 40 was paid per person, in addition to the reimbursement of expenditure
on tractor trolleys used for removal of debris. Subsequently, in the month
of October 2001, it was found that debris was still lying in some villages.
A programme was initiated to remove debris through village-level
committees. A government resolution was issued to that effect.
It is estimated that about 109 lakh MT of debris was removed by
various agencies as indicated in Table 22.
Table 22: Removal of debris by different agencies
Agency Debris in lakh MT
Roads & Buildings Deptt 20.48

Irrigation Deptt 18.72
Kandla Port Trust 4.06
Government buildings 4.66
Drought relief work 20.48
Village committee/ village panchayat 40.41
Total 108.81
In some cases, irregularities in the removal of debris was noticed.

Disciplinary action was taken against 276 employees: 5, 40 and 231
respectively of class 1, 2 and 3 categories. Of these employees, 29 were
removed from service.
Even during the removal of debris through village committees,
irregularities were noticed and criminal cases were filed against officials
and a number of non-officials. These cases involved 738 people.
However, it may be noted that looking to the magnitude and spread of
the work, such cases of irregularities cannot be considered significant.
101
Emergency Measures for Social Infrastructure

The immediate requirement was to re-start educational institutions
and ensure that there was no delay in the commencement of the next
educational session. As the first step, primary schools were started in
clusters of villages. About 300 such clusters were established in the affected
districts. Personnel from non-affected districts were deployed so as to
resume educational activities. Tents, water facilities, mats, teaching and
learning material etc., were provided. Secondary schools were made
functional in tents.
Over 8,000 schoolrooms had been destroyed due to the earthquake.
It was realized quite early that unless steps were taken to provide temporary
structures, it would be difficult to continue teaching at schools when the
new academic session began. Temporary structuresincluding tents
provided by UNICEFwere arranged for over 10,000 classrooms so
that all the schools were reopened by the middle of June 2001. A detailed
plan for the repair and reconstruction of schools was prepared. Repair
work of 42,678 schoolrooms was undertaken through village-level civil
works committees comprising the village Sarpanch, a school teacher and
a village-level official.
Medical and health centrescivil hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, dispensaries
and so onwere made operational with temporary structures.
Government offices were made functional in temporary shelters, rented
premises and, in some cases, repaired buildings. Several interim structures
were constructed for office and residential purposes.
In the Kutch district, three dams meant for the supply of drinking
water were among those damaged due to the earthquake. Urgent repair of
the three dams was completed before the monsoon season of 2001.
Keeping in view the safety aspect, repair work for 60 other dams in the
Kutch and Saurashtra areas was completed on time. A Dam Safety Panel
of experts was set up and long-term measures for strengthening of dams
were initiated.
Many buildings in Ahmedabad and other towns collapsed when the
earthquake struck. A technical committee of experts was constituted to
advise the government on changes to be made in the general development
102
control regulations. After a series of discussions and interactions with

professionals, architects and engineers, a set of regulations incorporating
provisions on structural safety were notified in March 2001. Some
amendments were made in May 2001. The idea was to implement and
enforce the provisions of the National Building Codes and ISI standards.
Creating a New Organizational Structure

The Government of Gujarat decided, keeping in view the Orissa State
Disaster Management Authority created after the super cyclone of 1999,
to constitute a separate agency, i.e., the GSDMA, for executing and
coordinating the complex task of reconstruction and rehabilitation. The
government issued a resolution on 8 February 2001, in less than two
weeks after the earthquake, to this effect. The GSDMA was registered as
a society under the Societies Registration Act. M. Sahu, an officer of the
rank of Secretary to the Government, and who was working at that time
as the Managing Director, Gujarat Informatics Ltd (GIL), was appointed
as the Chief Executive Officer of the GSDMA. Sahu, with the assistance
of J.G. Pandya, an officer of the rank of Additional Collector, and Sanjay
Joshi, a gazetted officer from the Commissionerate of Rural Development,
started operating from the office of the GIL. Arvind Joshi, an IAS officer,
joined on 28 February 2001. V. Thiruppugazh, who was working as
Collector, Sabarkantha was appointed to the GSDMA on 1 March 2001.
A Task Force was set up, headed by the author, who was then Principal
Secretary, Department of Agriculture. It comprised national-level experts,
representatives of NGOs and some senior officers of the state government.
The Task Force was to suggest effective measures for the preparation of
a long-term disaster management plan. It was envisaged that the Task
Force would address the following issues:
" To suggest effective measures for preparedness so as to organize
prompt rescue and relief in the event of natural disasters. This would
include the formation of specialized groups for rescue operations,
equipment and training of personnel.
" To review the present status of disaster management plans, particularly
at state/district/taluka level.
103
" To ensure the preparation of appropriate disaster management plans

for different types of disasters.
During the next few days, support staff were appointed, a few on
deputation from the government and most others on a contract basis. In
the meantime, on 15 March 2001, the state government appointed the
author as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GSDMA. M. Sahu
and P. Pannervel functioned as Additional Chief Executive Officers.
Office space was leased on the fifth floor of the Udyog Bhavan, from
the Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation. Thus, the GSDMA, even
while identifying office premises and staff, became functional and
commenced the complex task of reconstruction and rehabilitation in the
aftermath of the earthquake.
The creation of the GSDMA was a momentous decision. The
Government of India had played an important role in suggesting the creation
of such an organization along the lines of that created in Orissa after the
super cyclone of 1999. As described later in this book, the progress of
reconstruction and rehabilitation has been widely acclaimed, both nationally
and internationally. The creation of a new organizational structure
contributed immensely to such an outstanding achievement. The other
and possibly more important factor, was the appointment of some of the
most dedicated, hardworking and capable officers to the GSDMA.
Financing of Relief and Rehabilitation Work

The Government of Gujarat has a Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) of
Rs 891.84 crores shared in the ratio 75:25 by the Government of India
and the state government for the period between 200001 to 200405.
The state government is also entitled to allocation from the National Calamity
Contingency fund (NCCF) in case there is a calamity of rare severity.
Initially, the Government of India released Rs 830 crores from the NCCF
in two installments of Rs 500 and Rs 330 crores. The Ministry of
Agriculture (GOI) deputed a central team to assess the requirement of the
state government to meet the relief expenditure, after receiving the
memorandum from the Government of Gujarat. Based on the NCCF
norms and the preliminary assessment carried out, the team recommended
104
an assistance of Rs 1938.64 crores from the NCCF. After considering the

report of the central team, the Government of India decided to allocate an
amount of Rs 1467.37 crores from the NCCF.
Immediately after the earthquake, the ADB and the WB came forward
to fund the massive reconstruction programme. In fact, the interactions
with these organizations commenced within days of the earthquake. They
were prepared to send their team immediately. It was mutually agreed,
keeping in view the immediate task of rescue and relief, to have the team
in Gujarat on 12 February 2001. The joint assessment team that arrived
consisted of about 50 members. They spent 15 days visiting the affected
areas and interacting with the departments concerned.
The WB and the ADB sanctioned loans in less than three months after
the earthquake. The Government of India also promptly provided financial
assistance. Several state governments came forward to participate in the
reconstruction work in different villages. The UN agencies in India (such
as UNDP, FAO, UNICEF and UNESCO), multilateral and bilateral agencies,
NGOs and the corporate sector, participated in the relief and reconstruction
work.
The WB and the ADB announced, respectively, US $ 1 billion and US
$ 500 million for the Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction Programme
(GERP). In course of time, however, the state government and the GSDMA
decided to take lesser amounts: US $ 703 million from the WB and US $
350 million from the ADB.
The WB financing focuses on five broad areas: housing, social sector,
infrastructure, community participation support and disaster management
capacity building. The ADB funding focuses on housing, urban/rural infra-
structure, power, livelihood rehabilitation, consulting services and incremental
administrative support, and multi-hazard disaster preparedness and mitigation.
Though some sectors are common to both, it was ensured that there was
no overlapping in terms of functional and geographical areas.
The WB-funded project is implemented in two phases. Phase I
envisages a project cost of Rs 1405.80 crores and Phase II envisages
Rs 2031.78 crores (Table 23); the figures include the counterpart funding
of the Government of Gujarat. The project components funded by the
ADB are shown in Table 23.1.
105
Table 23: Components and estimated cost (Rs crore) of the

WB project: Phase I and II
Component Phase I Phase II Total
A. Housing
Rubble Removal 8.70 0.00 8.70
Temporary Shelters 77.60 0.00 77.60
Permanent Houses 1,162.20 634.56 1,796.76
Total Housing 1,248.50 634.56 1,883.06
B. Health 0.42 0.00 0.42
C. Public Infrastructure
Education
i. Primary Education 0.00 3.05 3.05
ii. Technical Education 0.77 64.79 65.56
iii.Municipal &
Corporation Schools 6.98 7.10 14.08
Total Education 7.75 74.93 82.69
Public Buildings
i. State R & B 22.90 176.58 199.48
ii. Panchayat 6.19 37.80 43.99
iii.Police Housing 0.24 34.34 34.58
iv.Other Buildings & Urban
Local Bodies 0.05 7.82 7.87
v. Seismological Institute,
GIDM & other Buildings 0.00 65.00 65.00
Total Public Buildings 29.38 321.54 350.92
Retrofitting
i. State R & B 0.00 120.05 120.05
ii. Panchayat 0.00 18.90 18.90
iii.Health Buildings & other
Public Infrastructure 0.00 63.50 63.50
Total Retrofitting 0.00 202.45 202.45
Contd
106
Contd
Roads and Bridges 75.64 373.18 448.82
Dam Safety and Irrigation 19.72 226.69 246.41
TOTAL PUBLIC
INFRASTRUCTURE 132.49 1,198.80 1,331.29
D. Community Participation 0.58 35.00 35.58
E. Disaster Management
Capacity Building 5.40 240.00 245.40
F. Project Management 0.00 25.00 25.00
GRAND TOTAL 1,387.39 2,133.36 3,520.75

Source: GSDMA (2002), p.7.
Table 23.1: Components and estimated cost (Rs crore)

of the ADB-funded project
Component/Implementing Agency ADB GoG

Allocation Counterpart Total
funding
Housing 69.17 17.29 86.46
Gujarat Urban Development Co. Ltd 321.77 96.11 417.88
Municipal Corporations
Jamnagar Municipal Corporation 2.03 0.60 2.63
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 28.40 8.48 36.88
Baroda Municipal Corporation 2.44 0.73 3.17
Rajkot Municipal Corporation 12.00 3.59 15.59
Municipal Corporations (Total) 44.87 13.40 58.27
Contd
107
Contd
AhmedabadUrban Development
Authority 48.37 14.45 62.82
Roads & Buildings Department 144.94 43.29 188.23
Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage

Board (GWSSB)/Gujarat Water
Infrastructure Ltd (GWIL) 570.68 191.48 762.16
GEB 145.33 65.86 211.19
Social Justice, Women and

Child Development (WCD) 9.18 0.00 9.18
Cottage & Other Industries 36.40 0.00 36.40
Disaster Management 101.20 0.00 101.20
Consultancy & Incremental Costs 68.56 0.00 68.56
Front-end Fee 24.25 0.00 24.25
Total 1,584.72 441.88 2,026.60

Source: GSDMA
The assistance given by the Government of India from the NCCF

was utilized for immediate relief such as ex-gratia payment for death,
temporary shelters, cash doles, assistance to the injured and similar
activities. The WB and the ADB funded medium and long-term project
components. Though both covered activities such as housing,
infrastructure and disaster management, the areas were clearly demarcated.
For instance, the power sector was included only in the ADB fund.
People of the Hyogo prefecture in Japan, who had experienced the
ravages of the Kobe earthquake, empathized with the victims of the Kutch
earthquake. They resolved to do something more than raising donations
108
they decided to set up a task-specific fund for a rehabilitation project

involving children. The Hyogo Prefecture Disaster Relief Fund Raising
Committee was set up to mobilize donations. The people of Hyogo,
especially children, went out into the streets to collect funds.
An agreement between the above committee and the GSDMA was
signed on 24 September 2001, in order to create a fundthe Hyogo-
Gujarat Friendship Fundwith an initial corpus of 175 million Yen (Rs
6.5 crores). A School Earthquake Safety Project was prepared. A
Committee under the chairmanship of A. S. Arya, Professor Emeritus,
IIT, Roorkee, was constituted to carry out functions such as the approval
of plans and monitoring the implementation of the project. Ten sub-projects,
mostly schools and hostels, were undertaken. The work involved repair,
construction and introduction of a disaster-preparedness curriculum.
The Government of The Netherlands gave financial assistance for the
repair of 42,678 and reconstruction of 4,675 primary schoolrooms, with
an overall cost of Rs 177 crores. In addition, it funded a community-
based project, for the development of water resources and sanitation in
the earthquake affected areas, implemented by the Water and Sanitation
Management Organization at an estimated cost of Rs 148 crores.
The European Commission provided funds in the form of a grant for
reconstruction of 973 and repair of 1,139 health facilities including CHCs,
PHCs, dispensaries and anganwadis, at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crores.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
sanctioned a livelihood security project for the earthquake affected rural
households with a total estimated cost of US$ 24 million. The amount of
loan from the IFAD was US$ 15 million and co-financing from the World
Food Programme (WFP) US$ 4.9 million. The project is implemented by
the Self-Employed Womens Association (SEWA), which is to contribute
an amount of US$ 1.7 million. The contribution of the borrower, i.e., the
Government of India is Rs 1.7 million and that of the beneficiaries Rs 0.7
million. The project envisages covering beneficiaries in about 400 villages
in 12 talukas of three districts.
Government of India ministries such as Rural Development, Power,
Social Justice and Empowerment and Education, provided financial
assistance for reconstruction work.
109
The Prime Ministers National Relief Fund (PMNRF) made available

Rs 150 crores for the reconstruction and retrofitting of 132 government
and government-aided secondary and higher secondary school buildings
in the severely-affected districts, and Rs 114 crores for rebuilding the
district civil hospital (GK General Hospital) at Bhuj. This was in addition
to the PMNRF fund for immediate relief.
Members of Parliament came forward to allocate funds from the
Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) Scheme for
the purposes of undertaking the reconstruction work, particularly in rural
areas. From the Lok Sabha, 153 members allocated Rs 22 crore and 163
members of the Rajya Sabha allocated about Rs 27 crores for this purpose.
The funds were utilized for constructing primary schools, community
halls, work sheds, marketing centres, PHCs, dispensaries, ashram schools,
one vocational training institute and one Dharamshala. In all, 851 tasks
were undertaken, implemented through Government of India agencies,
namely the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and
the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC). Most of them
have been completed.
The overall cost of reconstruction was estimated to be Rs 7,836
crores, as given in Table 24.
Table 24: Estimated overall cost of reconstruction (Rs crore)
Sector Sub-sector Reconstruction Cost
Housing Damaged Houses 1,180.69

Destroyed Houses 946.75
Temporary Shelter 100.00
Rubble Removal 25.00
SUB TOTAL 2,261.44
Health - 358.13
Education - 760.62
Contd
110
Contd
Infrastructure Dam Safety and
Irrigation 348.63
Public Buildings
and Those of Other
Government Undertakings 331.74
Roads and Bridges 330.00
Retrofitting 84.34
Urban Infrastructure 604.50
Rural Infrastructure 418.50
Power 325.50
SUB TOTAL 2,443.21
Industries Small, Medium and Large 475.00

Rural and Cottage 189.13
Agriculture 199.66
Tourism 36.00
SUB TOTAL 899.79
Services 400.00
Social
Empowerment 250.00
Support Multi-hazard Disaster

Structure Preparedness 330.30
Consultancy and
Administration Support 69.75
Community Participation 60.00
SUB TOTAL 463.05
GRAND TOTAL 7,836.24
Note: The above cost does not include that of the work done by NGOs.
111
VI Reconstruction and Rehabilitation

Policy of the State Government
A Holistic Approach
The Government of Gujarat introduced a holistic and extensive
reconstruction and rehabilitation programme designed to address the needs
of the affected people comprehensively. It encompassed a number of
sectors such as housing, physical infrastructure, social infrastructure
(education and health), urban reconstruction, livelihood restoration, social
rehabilitation, community participation and long-term disaster management.
A reconstruction and rehabilitation policy was announced by the GOG.
(GOG, 2001)
The GERP, which was a comprehensive earthquake rehabilitation and
reconstruction programme,6 was introduced with state government funding
as well as with assistance from the Government of India, the WB, the
ADB, the Government of Netherlands and the European Union. The GERP
has the following objectives:
(i) promoting sustainable recovery in disaster-affected areas; and
(ii) laying the foundation for sustainable disaster management capacity
in Gujarat.
The following development outcomes are expected to be achieved:
" Vulnerability reduction through infrastructure built to disaster-resistant
standards.
" Increased risk awareness and preparedness of communities to natural
hazards through access to more sustainable incomes and enhanced
knowledge of hazards and disaster reduction techniques.
" Enhanced emergency preparedness and response capacity of the
relevant entities.
6
It is also known as the Gujarat Emergency Earthquake Reconstruction Program
(GEERP) and Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Program
(GERRP). In this book the expression Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction Programme
112
(GERP) is used.
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Policy of the State Government
Components of the Programme
The reconstruction and rehabilitation programme addresses, as

enumerated in the relevant document, the following tasks:
" Build, retrofit, repair and strengthen houses, schools, buildings in the
health sector and public buildings affected by the earthquake, through
the application of earthquake-resistant technology.
" Revive the local economy by providing assistance for agriculture,
industries, small business, handicrafts, and regenerate livelihood for
the people.
" Rebuild and upgrade community and social infrastructure, improve
education and health systems, and strengthen social protection
measures for weaker sections of the population.
" Provide health support to the people injured by the earthquake on a
long-term basis and psychological counselling for the people
traumatized by the disaster .
" Restore lifeline infrastructure of transport networks and utility
infrastructure of power and water supply, and reduce their vulnerability
to natural disasters.
" Support gender empowerment through involving women at all stages
in the programme implementation.
" Provide support for the children affected by the earthquake, and
alleviate social deprivation through an integrated nutrition and education
strategy.
" Implement a comprehensive disaster management programme,
improving the disaster preparedness and emergency response capacity
of the government to deal with different types of disasters.
" Reduce vulnerability through long-term mitigation programmes
through structural and non-structural measures and improve peoples
resilience through diversification of sources of income generation
and asset building.
113
The focus during the short, medium and long-term phases of the
GEERP included:
" Immediate needs such as temporary shelters before the onset of the
monsoon, debris removal, repair of houses, repair of public buildings
and emergency repair of irrigation structures.
" Repair and reconstruction work in the medium-term phase. There
was emphasis on reconstruction of houses, public infrastructure, social
infrastructure and initiating efforts towards disaster reduction and
mitigation.
" Further strengthening of capacity-building efforts towards disaster
reduction and mitigation, and implementation of a risk transfer
mechanism in the long-term phase.
Debris removal,
Short-Term Temporary Shelter,
Initiation of Repair/Reconstruction
Repair/Reconstruction
(Houses, Public Infrastructure, Social
Medium-Term Infrastructure)
Awareness Programs
Disaster Reduction & Mitigation
Capacity Building of GSDMA

Long-term Measures for Disaster Reduction
Long-Term and Mitigation
Schemes for Various Sectors

The state government announced the following schemes for the
restoration of industrial units, cottage industry, trade and commercial activities:
" For the small, medium and big industrial units located in seismic zones
IV and V, cash assistance at the rate of 60 per cent of the total
investment and up to a maximum of Rs 60 lakhs, working capital loan
from banks with no interest for two years, exemption from electricity
duty and from stamp duty.
114
" A scheme was announced for salt-pan workers with benefits ranging
from Rs 3,000 to 5,000.
" Cabin owners and shop owners whose properties were damaged were
to be paid Rs 3,000 and 6,000 respectively.
" For cottage industries and artisans schemes for subsidy assistance to
self-employed persons at the rate of 60 per cent of loans and up to
Rs 2 lakhs, working capital assistance to handloom weavers at the
rate of Rs 10,000 per handloom weaver, revolving funds for providing
working capital etc., were announced.
" Work shed for artisans on a temporary basis and permanent work sheds.
" Handlooms, handicraft tools, and toolkits for artisans for restoration
of livelihood.
The state government also announced a package for rehabilitating

damaged heritage buildings. The scale of assistance was with a limit of Rs
2 lakhs for each building. If the entire building was being used for a
recognized school, college or library, or was on a long-term lease to the
government/local bodies, assistance was given up to Rs 5 lakhs. Assistance
was to be given only to those individuals who intended to restore their
properties as heritage buildings.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced, on 9 February 2001, a

special relief package, to be provided by banks, for persons and businesses
affected by the earthquake. The following are some of the components
of the package:
" No demand for recovery of loans to be made for two years in respect
of standard assets.
" As regards loans not classified as standard assets, no penalties to be
levied in the event of non-receipt of repayment during the next two
years.
" Loan up to a limit of Rs 1 lakh, at an interest rate not exceeding the
prime lending rate, to small traders, small business, self-employed
and small road-transporters for restoration of their business.
115
" Loans up to Rs 2 lakhs, at an interest rate not exceeding the prime

lending rate, for repair and reconstruction of houses/shops damaged
by the earthquake.
" Sanction of additional limits and rescheduling of existing limits in
respect of small scale industry, business, trade and other industries.
" Settlement of claims made by a nominee of a depositor who has lost
his life due to the earthquake would be completed within 48 hours.
" In case of agricultural loans, banks would not recover either principal
or interest from the affected persons for a period of two years and
reschedule the amounts not collected during the two years for a period
of seven years.
" The existing limit of Rs 1,000 for grant of consumption loan was
raised to Rs 2,000 per eligible beneficiary.
The RBI advised the Dena Bank, which is the lead bank for Gujarat,
to convene the meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee every
month in order to monitor the implementation of the above relief measures.
Incentives and Tax Exemptions

In the wake of the Gujarat earthquake, the Government of India
announced certain tax exemptions for encouraging rehabilitation and
reconstruction work:
" 100 per cent reduction allowed under the Income Tax Act, 1961,
in respect of contribution to the Gujarat Earthquake Rehabilitation
and Reconstruction Fund.
" 100 per cent reduction allowed in respect of the contribution
made by an income tax assessee to any trust/NGO/institution for
providing relief to the victims of the Gujarat earthquake.
" Exemption under the relevant provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961,
given to NGOs and charitable trusts for receipt and utilization of
donations for providing relief to the earthquake victims.
" Organizations were given exemption from the provisions of the Foreign
116
Contribution (Regulation) Act 1976, to accept foreign contributions

during a prescribed time-frame in cash and kind for providing relief
to the earthquake victims without obtaining formal approval from the
Government of India.
" Exemption from central excise duty in respect of cement and steel
utilized for relief and reconstruction work.
" Exemption from payment of excise duty on goods manufactured by
new industrial units commissioned in Kutch district till 31 July 2003.
The period was subsequently extended by one year and again up to
December 2004. It has now been further extended till December 2005.
The exemption is available for a period of five years from the
commencement of commercial production.
Similarly, the Government of Gujarat announced some incentives as follows:
" Exemption/deferment of sales tax to new industrial units in Kutch

district that invest 50 per cent of the project cost before 31 October
2004 and commence production by 31 October 2005. The incentive
is available for five years for units with an investment up to Rs 10
crores; for seven years for units with an investment of Rs 1050
crores; and for 10 years for investment exceeding Rs 50 crores.
" Remission of stamp duty for registration in respect of purchase of
land for rehabilitation projects, instruments executed for securing
repayment of loans and advances made to individuals affected by the
earthquake in favour of institutions, and instruments of conveyance
in favour of affected persons, whose residential premises were partially
or fully destroyed, for the purchase of property up to Rs 3 lakhs.
" Exemption from royalty levied on building materials such as cement,
clay, and building stone used for reconstruction in the earthquake-
affected Kutch district.
" Exemption from sales tax on goods such as cement, steel, asbestos
sheets, galvanized and corrugated iron sheets, and wooden poles
purchased for the purpose of earthquake-related work.
" Exemption from payment of octroi duty to industrial units in Kutch.
117
Tax incentives in the district of Kutch have attracted a number of

industries. Eighty projects with an investment of Rs 499 crores have
already been commissioned; 71 projects with an estimated investment of
Rs 4281 crores were at various stages of implementation by the end of
March 2004. Thus, 151 new industrial projects with an investment of
Rs 4785 crores were located in Kutch district by March 2004, consequent
upon the tax incentives for the district. A sectoral analysis of the projects
already commissioned indicates that engineering industries account for
50 per cent of the investment, followed by chemicals with 27 per cent and
minerals, 12 per cent. Among the projects under implementation, engineering,
mineral, chemical and textile sectors account for respectively 29, 21, 20
and 12 per cent of the investment. These projects are expected to generate
employment opportunitiesdirect and indirectto 119,495 people.
Organizational Arrangements
As discussed earlier, the rehabilitation and reconstruction programme
is very comprehensive and holistic. It necessitated the involvement and
participation of a number of departments and agencies. This means there
is a need for an integrated and coordinated approach. The GSDMA was
thus set up as the coordinating agency. However, in view of the complexity
of the task, it became necessary to have the involvement of the highest
political executive. This was ensured through the Governing Body of the
GSDMA with the Chief Minister as Chairman. An operational manual was
prepared to expedite the process of sanction of works undertaken by
various departments.
In addition to government departments and agencies, a number of
expert institutions and individuals were associated. There were interactions
with national and international organizations. All these posed challenges
but also provided immense opportunities for organizational initiatives and
innovation.
A mechanism for coordination with NGOs was developed in the form
of a Public-Private Partnership Programme. An elaborate system of
peoples participation starting from the village level to the state level was
also put in place.
118
Chart 1 below indicates the elaborate organizational structure,

encompassing both formal and informal interactions.
Chart 1: Formal and informal organizational interactions for

C hart 1: Fthe
ormreconstruction
al an d inform al oand
rganization al in teraction
rehabilitation work s for th e
reconstru ction and reh ab ilitation w ork
Best practices Best practices

Expertise Reconstruction
GoG data
NGOs and
Experiences
etc. Damage data research
Other Policies agencies
DMAs Funds
Expertise
Project
Monitoring
Damage data
Damage data
Project plan
Risk data
Capacity Line
Project plans creation plans
Local Initiatives etc. departments
Progress report
Administration
Damage Gujarat State Project

suffered Disaster guidelines
Compensation Management Project reports Funding
claims etc. Authority Status reports agencies
Funds
Individual
beneficiaries
119
Organizational Structure of the GSDMA

It is useful to describe the organizational structure and administrative
arrangements for the implementation of the rehabilitation and reconstruction
programme.
The GDSMA was initially registered as a society under the Societies
Registration Act. The organization structure is shown in Chart 2.
Chart 2: Organizational structure of the GSDMA

Governing Body
Overall Monitoring
Advisory CEO GSDMA CS Central

Committee " Overall Co-ordination Sub- Implementation
" Long-term Disaster Mitigation Committee Review Group
and Preparedness
" Social Rehabilitation
" Strategic Planning and Policy
" Procurement
" All other items not covered
ACEO GSDMA ACEO GSDMA

" The Governing Body Meetings of the " Housing including its Accounts
GSDMA " Infrastructure (Roads & Bridges,
" Infrastructure (Education, Health, Rural Dam Safety, Irrigation, Public
Water Supply, Urban Infrastructure) Buildings)
" Community Capacity Building " Legal Matters
" Finance " Emergency Communication and
" Accounts Networking
" Personnel and Administration Matters
" MIS
Joint CEO
" Education /
Health Director Director Chief Director Director
" Urban Infra-
structure (Admn.) (Finance) Engineer (H&EC) (DM)
" World Bank / " Personnel /Cont. of " Procurement Long-term
" Housing
ADB Interface & Accounts Disaster
" Community Adminis " Road & Bridges " Emergency Mitigation &
Participation " Finance
tration " Dam Safety & " Communica- Preparedness
" Power " Accounts
" IEC Activity, " Society Irrigation tion &
Training " Public Buildings Networking
" NGO
" Disaster
Management Interface " Maintenance
" Rural Water of the GSDMA
Supply Office
" Livelihood
120
The Chief Executive Officer of the GSDMA is responsible for the

overall management and implementation of the programme. The
implementation of works and procurement of goods for specific projects
are the responsibility of the line departments, with the overall coordination
and monitoring by the GSDMA.
The core staff of the GSDMA is from the administrative services and
government departments. It also draws the services of professionals by
way of outsourcing. Specialized activities are usually outsourced. This
has helped the GSDMA to be responsive to changing needs and priorities.
The senior management team originally consisted of a Chief Executive
officer, two Additional Chief Executive Officers, a Joint Chief Executive
Officer, a Chief Engineer, a Controller of Accounts and two Directors. At
present there is only one Additional Chief Executive Officer.
The following are the main functions of the GSDMA in the context of
the programme:
" Develop approach, policy guidelines and action plans for meeting the
objectives of the programme;
" Obtain funds for rehabilitation and resettlement and to ensure optimum
utilization of these funds made available from national and international
agencies;
" Prepare programmes and plans to mitigate the impact of disasters as
a strategy for long-term disaster preparedness; and
" Overall coordination and monitoring with the implementing line
departments for the procurement of works, goods and services for
the specific components of the public sector infrastructure.
Each line department implementing different components of the

programme, for example, Roads and Buildings, Education, Water
Resources, Water Supply, and Municipal Corporations, formed a project
implementation cell to monitor and manage the programme. At the field
level, the engineering departments and divisions, wherever necessary,
strengthened the structure to undertake the work. In some cases additional
staff was provided.
121
For the effective implementation of the programme, a four-tier

institutional framework was constituted. In addition, some committees
were formed so as to provide expert advice and facilitate peoples
participation. Furthermore, a grievance redressal mechanism was put in place.
State level
The Governing Body of the GSDMA, consisting of the Chief Minister
as the chairman and some senior ministers and secretaries as members, is
the apex body. It formulates policies and guidelines. A Central
Implementation Review Group (CIRG) under the chairmanship of the
Chief Secretary was also formed in order to monitor and facilitate
implementation. The CIRG includes experts from various fields as
members. A sub-committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary
was set up in order to monitor components of the programme funded by
sources other than the WB and the ADB .
To enable the GSDMA to have expert advice and guidance from
prominent citizens and experts in various fields and to ensure accountability
and peoples participation, a state-level advisory committee was formed.
It was headed by Y.K. Alagh, an eminent economist, and included leading
persons in the fields of industry, finance, social services, administration
and management as members.
District level
At the district level, an executive committee under the chairmanship
of the District Collector implements, monitors and coordinates the
programme. An advisory committee consisting of officers and non-officials
was also formed in order to advise the district administration on various
aspects of the programme.
Taluka level
In the worst affected talukas, additional collectors and additional
DDOs, with the delegated powers of collectors and DDOs respectively,
were appointed with a view to speeding up the process of implementation.
122
Village level
At the village level, a committee chaired by an officer not below the
rank of Deputy Mamlatdar monitors the implementation of the programme
and coordinates various activities. A village-level committee consisting of
non-officials and officials was also formed.
Grievance Redressal Mechanism

The Government of Gujarat developed a grievance redressal
mechanism to provide forums for affected persons to express their
grievances. A committee at the village level and a committee at the district
level were constituted, not only for strengthening the system of programme
implementation but also for grievance redressal. Furthermore, the District
Judge was declared as an Ombudsman to receive complaints and petitions
directly from the public. He also hears grievances and issues directions to
the administration. During the period till October 2003, 47,156 petitions
were received by the ombudsmen in various districts, out of which 46,182
(99 per cent) have been addressed.
The problems of the four towns of KutchAnjar, Bhachau, Bhuj and
Raparwere more complex. Four area development authorities were
formed and officers of the rank of additional collectors were appointed as
CEOs. Initially, officers of the rank of secretary to the government were
appointed as chairmen. Later, the district collector and the DDO were
appointed as chairmen of the respective area development authorities.
The authorities are in overall charge of planning, preparing and
implementing regulations and for creation of infrastructure. They undertake
town planning and planning for infrastructure. They can levy service
charges for the new services.
The area development authorities were created because it was felt
that the local municipalities were not in a position to undertake the massive
task of planning of the urban areas and their new infrastructure. However,
the municipalities are expected to undertake, at a later stage, services
such as water supply, sewerage, and health. The construction of
infrastructure was undertaken by the Gujarat Urban Development Company
(GUDC).
123
Mechanism for Community Participation

There is a three-tier arrangement for facilitating community
participation at different levels. They are: the Gram Navrachna Samiti at
the village level, the District Advisory Committee at the district level and
the State Advisory Committee at the state level.
The Gram Navrachna Samiti has a Deputy Collector/Mamlatdar/Taluka
Development Officer (TDO)/Deputy Mamlatdar/ Deputy TDO as
Chairman. The members are the Sarpanch, a former Sarpanch, a woman
member, a member from backward castes, a member from a minority
community, the headmaster of the primary school and a representative of
an NGO. The Talati or the village-level functionary is the member-
secretary. The Gram Navrachna Samiti is responsible for the overall
supervision of the reconstruction programme in the village. The idea is to
ensure the representation of all segments of the village community in the
finalization of design, building material and construction technology. The
Gram Navrachna Samiti is, however, guided by the Gram Sabha, or the
village council.
At the district level, the District Advisory Committee is headed by the
minister in charge of the district. The district collector is the vice-chairman.
Members include MPs, MLAs, presidents of district panchayats, five
representatives of NGOs and the relevant district-level officers. The
additional collector is the member-secretary.
The District Advisory Committee is to coordinate the public-private
partnership programme and address all the problems and constraints in
the implementation of the programme.
As already mentioned, the State Advisory Committee comprises
distinguished members from different fields.
Focus on Effective Implementation

The reconstruction programme gathered momentum quickly and
continued to make good progress. Narendra Modi, who became Chief
Minister of Gujarat during the first part of October 2001, reviewed the
progress. He felt that it would be worthwhile to provide a push and
124
accelerate the process, so that by 26 January 2002, i.e., one year after the
earthquake, the progress would be significant. It was decided to assign
the task of monitoring the progress of some of the most affected talukas
to senior Secretaries to the state government. Eleven Secretaries were
asked to visit the respective talukas for three days, from Friday to Sunday
each week till the end of January 2002. Every Monday, the Chief Minister
used to hold review meetings with the Secretaries and others concerned.
Based on their field visits and suggestions, many issues of policy and
operation were resolved. This accelerated the process of reconstruction
and rehabilitation further.
125
VII Progress of Reconstruction and

Rehabilitation Work
A s mentioned earlier, the rehabilitation and reconstruction programme

is comprehensive and covers many sectors. This chapter provides a
brief overview of the progress of important activities during the first three
years, i.e., till January 2004.
Housing
The reconstruction of houses is probably the most innovative aspect
of the Gujarat reconstruction programme. It has been a participatory
programme with an emphasis on multi-hazard resistant construction and
capacity building.
The basic approach is owner-driven reconstruction. People reconstruct
their houses themselves, with the assistance and facilitation of the
government. In addition, NGOs have undertaken construction of some
houses under the public-private partnership programme.
By the end of January 2004, 901,150 out of 928,369 houses were
repaired. Reconstruction of 186,967 out of 215,255 houses, i.e., 87 per
cent, was completed. Overall, 95 per cent of the repair and reconstruction
of houses was completed.
Houses which had not been completed were mostly in three towns of
Kutch, where it took some time to complete various surveys and town
planning. In some cases, house-owners living outside the state did not
start reconstruction work (Table 25).
126
Progress of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Work
Table 25: Progress of housing reconstruction as of January 2004
Component Target Completed WIP* % completed
All Areas
Repair 928,369 901,150 27,219 97
Reconstruction 215,255 186,967 28,288 87
Total 1,143,624 1,088,117 55,507 95
Rural
Repair 715,373 689,699 25,674 96
Reconstruction 187,920 173,600 14,320 92
Total 903,293 863,299 39,994 96
Urban
Repair 212,996 211,451 1,545 99
Reconstruction 27,335 13,367 13,968 49
Total 240,331 224,818 15,513 94
Rural - Kutch
Repair 186,267 183,242 3,025 98
Reconstruction 107,440 107,105 335 100
Total 293,707 290,347 3,360 99
Urban - Kutch
Repair 52,016 51,602 414 99
Reconstruction 18,133 4,819 13,314 27
Total 70,149 56,421 13,728 80
* WIP means work in progress.
Under the public-private partnership programme, 42,528 houses were

to be reconstructed, out of which 41,902 houses have been completed.
Thus, NGOs have participated in 20 per cent of the houses to be
reconstructed. The percentage will be lower if all the houses to be repaired
and reconstructed are considered.
127
The number of housing units for reconstruction in urban areas is

27,335, out of which 49 per cent have been completed. The main reason
for the relatively slow performance of urban housing is the town-planning
related procedures in the four towns of Kutch district. In three of the four
towns, namely, Bhuj, Anjar and Bhachau, houses are being constructed
both in the town planning areas and on relocation sites. In the town planning
areas, which are parts of existing towns, the task is more complex because
the work involves the survey of a large number of plots, widening of
roads, re-allocation of plots and so on. In the three towns where town
planning has been undertaken, 6582 per cent of the plots have been
handed over to the beneficiaries. As regards relocation sites in the three
towns, plot allocation is almost complete. Building permissions have been
given to most of the people who have applied for it.
One constraint is that in many cases, the beneficiaries do not ask for
building permission. Some of them have found it difficult to get building
plans prepared by engineers because of the non-availability of engineers
and the cost involved. The district administration has undertaken extension
and facilitation activities to ensure the availability of engineers, to arrange
preparation of building plans and to motivate people to come forward to
get these preliminary activities completed quickly. For quick approval of
plans, standard designs have been prepared.
A remarkable aspect of the reconstruction of houses is that the
progress has been steady and consistent. During the first year, 59,781
houses were completed. During the second year, the figure reached
142,858. By January 2004, the cumulative progress was 186,967 (Table
25.1 and Charts 3 and 4). Most of the repair work was completed during
the first year. The achievement during the first year itself has been much
better than that of similar programmes in India and elsewhere.
Table 25.1: Year-wise cumulative progress in housing restoration
Component Target Jan 2002 Jan 2003 Jan 2004
Repair 928,369 769,040 891,972 901,150

Reconstruction 215,255 59,781 142,856 186,967
128
Chart 3: Cumulative Progress of Repair of Houses
1,000,000 928,369 891,972 901,150

769,040
Number of Houses
750,000
500,000
250,000
-
Target Jan' Jan' Jan'
2002 2003 2004
Chart 4: Cumulative Progress of Reconstruction of Houses

250,000
215,255
200,000 186,967
Number of Houses
142,856
150,000
100,000
59,781
50,000
-
Target Jan' Jan' Jan'
2002 2003 2004
129
Education
The 42,678 classrooms of primary schools which needed to be
repaired, were completed mostly during the first year itself. The
reconstruction of 7,469 schoolrooms out of 8,212 destroyed, i.e., 91 per
cent, has been completed. Of the additional 3,938 schoolrooms taken up
by NGOs, 3,810 have also been completed. The repair work was
undertaken through village civil works committees, which was an excellent
example of people's participation.
The reconstruction of 448 Mid Day Meal kitchen sheds and the repair
of 13 such sheds, have been completed. The reconstruction of six
Teachers' Training Institutes (TTI) has also been completed. As regards
secondary education, repair work of 2,070 schools out of 2,141 and
reconstruction of 130 out of 145 have been completed. In respect of
municipal schools, the repair of 1,206 classrooms out of 1,514, and the
reconstruction of 121 classrooms out of 153, have been completed (Table
26, Table 26.1, Chart 5 and Chart 6).
Table 26: Progress of reconstruction of educational

facilities as of January 2004
Component Target Completed WIP* Yet to %
commence completed
Primary Education
Repair of Classrooms 42,678 42,678 100
Reconstruction of
Classrooms 8,212 7,469 810 91
Reconstruction of
Additional Classrooms 3,938 3,810 128 97
Repair of MDMs 13 13 100
Reconstruction of MDMs 448 448 100
Reconstruction of TTIs 6 6 10
Technical Education
Repair of Colleges 22 4 5 13 18
Reconstruction of Colleges 2 0 2 0
Contd
130
Contd
Secondary Education
Repair of Schools 2,141 2,070 43 28 97
Reconstruction of Schools 145 130 12 3 90
Higher Education
Repair of Colleges 151 121 20 10 80
Reconstruction of Colleges 2 0 2 0 0
Municipal Schools
Repair of Classrooms 1,514 1,206 308 80
Reconstruction of Classrooms 153 121 20 0 79
* WIP means work in progress.
Table 26.1: Year-wise progress of restoration of

classrooms (Rural areas)
Component Target Jan 2002 Jan 2003 Jan 2003
Repair of Classrooms 42,678 41,514 42,678 42,678

Reconstruction of Classrooms 8,212 1,792 6,658 7,469
Chart 5: Year-wise
Chart progress
5: Yearwise of of
Progress classroom repairs
Classroom Repairs
42800 42678 42678 42678

42600
Number of Classrooms
42400
42200
42000
41800
41514
41600
41400
41200
41000
40800
Target Jan-02 Jan-03 Jan-04
131
132
A reconstructed school building at Moti Rudrani village

Moda Primary School Reconstructed
133
Chart 6: Cumulative Progress in Classroom

Reconstruction
9000 8212
8000 7469
6658
Number of Classrooms
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
1792
2000
1000
0
Target
8212 Jan 2002
Jan-02 Jan 2003
Jan-03 Jan 2004
Jan-04
For technical education infrastructure, the major work involved the

reconstruction of the engineering college and the polytechnic at Bhuj.
There has been some delay in hiring consultants and undertaking preliminary
work. The work has gained momentum from March 2004.
Health
All hospitals and health facilities were made functional within a short
time after the earthquake with temporary and alternative structures.
The Bhuj civil hospital which had collapsed has been reconstructed,
with the assistance of the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, at a cost of about
Rs 114 crores. The new building for the Bhuj hospital adopted the base
isolation technology that was developed in New Zealand. Isolators were
provided by M/s Robinson Seismic Ltd., a New Zealand-based company.
Engineers from New Zealand were involved in the installation of isolators.
It is a huge building with state-of-the-art equipment and was inaugurated
by the Prime Minister of India on 14 January 2004.
As regards other facilities, six CHCs, 24 PHCs, 184 sub-centres,
nine dispensaries and 183 anganwadis, have been constructed. A number
134
135
Reconstructed Kutch district hospitalG. K. Hospital at Bhuj
of other buildings are under construction. Further, 1,976 anganwadis have

been repaired (Table 27).
Table 27: Progress of reconstruction of health facilities as of Jan. 2004

Component Target Completed WIP Yet to commence
Repair
General Hospitals 5 5
CHCs 56 56
PHCs 139 139
Sub-centres 350 350
Dispensaries 12 12
Staff Quarters 695 695
Reconstruction
General Hospitals 5 2 3 0
CHCs 15 6 5 4
PHCs 69 24 20 25
Sub-centres 245 184 12 49
Dispensaries 26 9 11 6
District Training Centre 1 0 1 0
Staff Quarters 621 178 46 397
Anganwadi
Repair of Anganwadi 2,226 1,976 249 1
Reconstruction of
Anganwadi 1,832 183 265 768
In the health sector, the reconstruction work is funded mainly by the

European Union and NGOs. Most of the projects funded by NGOs have
made good progress, whereas those funded by the European Union have
been delayed because of elaborate procedures and other formalities. As a
result, the repair work was yet to commence even by March 2004. The
issues involved were resolved subsequently and the work was commenced
immediately.
Public Buildings
The repair and reconstruction of public buildings are implemented by
three major agencies: the state Roads and Buildings Department, the
Panchayat Department and the Gujarat State Police Housing Corporation.
136
Reconstructed maternity home at Mundra
137
As regards state buildings, emergency repair of all the 1,715 buildings

has been completed. Major repairs of 851 buildings out of 1,187 have
been completed, and repair and retrofitting works are in progress for 246
buildings. Out of 731 buildings to be reconstructed, 77 have been
completed and 585 are in progress (Table 28).
Table 28: Progress of reconstruction of public buildings, roads,

dams and water supply schemes as of January 2004
Component Target Completed WIP Yet to
commence
State R&B
Emergency Repair
of Buildings 1,715 1,715 0 0
Repair of Buildings 1,187 851 246 90
Reconstruction of Buildings 731 77 585 69
Retrofitting of Buildings 2,306 232 33 2,041
Panchayat
Emergency Repair
of Buildings 963 963
Retrofitting of Buildings 1,667 0 0 1,667
Police Housing
Repair of Buildings 5,050 5,050 0 0
Reconstruction of Buildings 1,267 705 0 562
Dams
Emergency Repair 245 245
Soil Samples 222 222
Preparation of Design 222 216 6
Review of Dams to be
Strengthened-Dam Safety
Review Panel (DSRP) 222 216 6
Strengthening of Dams 222 0 37 185
Roads and Bridges
Restoration of Bridges 179 159 17 3
Strengthening of State
Highways (km) 1,142 185 0 957
Contd
138
Contd
Strengthening of Rural
Roads (km) 3,317 1,318 106 1,893
Rural Water Supply
Drilling of Tube Wells 250 250
Pipelines (km) 2,789 1,859 930
Reconstruction of Structures 630 445 185
Power
Repairs to Transmission
Equipment (number) 465 431 4 30
Strengthening of
Transmission Line (km) 3,286 876 68 2,342
Strengthening of
Distribution Lines (km) 5,390 883 3,089 1,418
In respect of panchayat buildings, all the 963 buildings which needed

repair have been repaired. Of the 786 buildings to be reconstructed, 563
have been completed and 163 are in progress.
The Gujarat State Police Housing Corporation undertakes repair and
reconstruction of the buildings of the police department. The repair of all
5,050 buildings has been completed. The reconstruction of 705 out of
1,267 buildings has been completed.
The programme also includes the repair and reconstruction of buildings
belonging to the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad and Jamnagar.
Further, the buildings of the Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GUIDE)
at Bhuj are being reconstructed.
It is proposed to undertake the retrofitting of public buildings located
in seismic zones IV and V and other vulnerable areas. The objective is to
protect such buildings against future earthquakes. The programme will
include buildings where educational institutions, health facilities and
important offices are located. It is envisaged to retrofit about 4,876 buildings.
Rural Water Supply

This work involves restoration and strengthening of water supply
systems relating to 40 towns and 1,762 villages. It envisages 250 tubewells,
2,789 km of water pipeline and 630 civil structures. About two-thirds of
the work has been completed.
139
140
Laying of water supply pipeline in Kutch district

Power
This programme covers the reconstruction of buildings and repair
and strengthening of transmission and distribution systems. It is envisaged
to construct 13 administrative buildings, 174 staff quarters and 13 control
room buildings. Over 3,200 km of transmission lines and over 5,300 km
of distribution lines are to be strengthened. Equipment such as meters,
transformers, and capacitors need to be procured and installed. These
activities are at various stages of progress and completion.
Roads and Bridges

The emergency repair of 185 km of road was completed by August
2002. It is proposed to undertake the strengthening of 957 km of state
highways during the second phase of the programme. As regards
strengthening of rural roads, 1,318 km out of 3,317 km has been
completed. In addition, 159 bridges out of 179 have been completed and
work is in progress in respect of 17 structures.
Dam Safety and Irrigation

A number of minor and medium dams located in Saurashtra and Kutch
were damaged during the earthquake. Emergency repair was undertaken
in respect of the 245 dams that had suffered damage immediately after the
earthquake. It is proposed to strengthen 222 dams. For this purpose,
DSRPs were constituted for long-term restoration and strengthening of
dams. The work involves testing of soil samples, preparation of designs,
a review of designs by the DSRPs, processing of bids and execution of
work. Preparation of design and reviews of such designs have been
completed in respect of 216 dams. The work of strengthening has
commenced in respect of 37 dams.
Urban Infrastructure
The work of urban infrastructure involves construction of roads,
laying of water supply pipelines, providing sewerage systems and
construction of municipal buildings. The work is being undertaken by the
Gujarat Urban Development Company. This programme envisages 403
km of road, water pipelines of about 546 km , sewerage pipelines of about
141
142
A part of a reconstructed road in Kutch district

504, and 134 buildings for municipal administrative offices, municipal

markets, town halls, and fire stations (Table 29). The work of urban
infrastructure could begin only after the preparation of development plans,
town planning and procedures relating to selection of contractors was
undertaken (Table 29.1). About 40 per cent of the work has been completed
(Table 29).
Table 29: Progress in urban infrastructure as of January 2004

Component Target Completed WIP Yet to %
commence completed
14 towns of Gujarat
Construction of Roads (km) 403 181 60 162 45
Laying of Water Pipelines (km) 546 306 36 204 56
Laying of Sewage
Pipelines (km) 504 194 29 281 38
Construction of
Public Buildings 134 14 118 2 10
Table 29.1: Some more aspects of urban infrastructure

Component Number
No. of Studies Conducted 19
No. of Public Consultations Held 180
Development Plans Completed 4 towns: Bhuj, Bhachau, Anjar,
Rapar
Town Planning Completed 3 towns: Bhuj, Bhachau, Anjar
Relocation Sites 5 sites: 3 in Bhuj, 1 each in
Bhachau and Anjar
Archives and Monuments

The reconstruction of the archive buildings at Rajkot and Junagadh,
and museum and library buildings at Bhuj, are in progress.
Financial assistance is also being provided for the restoration of private
monuments which were damaged or destroyed during the earthquake.
143
Social Rehabilitation
Measures were taken to rehabilitate orphans, widows, the aged and
handicapped who were adversely affected by the earthquake. Such
measures included financial assistance, residential facilities, skill
upgradation, medical aid, therapy and counselling. A scheme of foster
parents was introduced so that orphans could be taken care of by their
relatives. Pensions were provided for the aged and for widows.
Financial assistance was given to 1,758 orphan children in the form
of joint bank accounts of the district collector and the child. Under the
foster parents scheme, 71 children were provided with a monthly assistance
of Rs 500 each. With the help of the National Children's Fund, 14 child
lines were established. Monthly pensions were sanctioned for 999 widows
and 657 old persons. Over 3,000 supportive devices were given to disabled
persons. Training courses were organized for 550 destitute women.
Livelihood Rehabilitation
The approach to livelihood restoration was three pronged: immediate
restoration of livelihood; enhancing the skills of artisans; and empowering
the artisans to market their skills. In addition, schemes for small-scale
industries and agriculture were introduced. The assistance included free
distribution of kits, financial assistance for damaged structures, working
capital assistance, loans at subsidized interests, marketing linkages, training
and farm input kits.
The following are some of the highlights of the progress (as of January
2004) of livelihood restoration (Table 30):
" 58,163 farmers were provided with input kits which contained not
only seed and fertilizer but also some equipment such as spray pumps,
farming tools and storage bins.
" 46,872 farmers were given financial assistance to reconstruct their
farming structures such as engine rooms and storage rooms.
" 78,890 farmers were given assistance to reconstruct their irrigation
assets.
" 3,212 handloom weavers were provided with looms.
144
Restoring Livelihood: a woman making traditional clothes
145
" Loan and assistance were given to 13,550 self-employed persons.

" Assistance was provided for shops/cabins and other service/trade
activities to 16,655 persons.
" Assistance was provided to 1,629 persons with small industries.
" More than 30,000 tool kits were distributed among handicraft and
handloom artisans.
" Over 27,000 tool kits were given to masons.
" Working capital assistance was given to 2,500 handloom weavers.
" A special project for the livelihood restoration of women was intro-
duced and implemented by the Women and Child Welfare Department.
" The women's livelihood restoration project envisages covering 16,127
women, out of whom 10,663 have already received the benefit.
Table 30: Progress of livelihood restoration as of January 2004
Component Beneficiaries
Sanctioned Assisted
Rural and cottage industry

Loan/Assistance for Self-
Employed Persons 14,862 13,550
Tool Kits to Artisans 18,668 18,179
Tool Kits to Handicraft Artisans 12,934 12,652
Looms to Handloom Artisans 3,419 3,212
Toolkits for Masons 27,000 27,000
Working Capital Assistance for
Handloom Weavers 3,794 2,500
Revolving Fund Scheme 8 13,892
Handicraft Parks & Kendras

(Numbers Sanctioned)
Permanent Work Sheds 114 114
Handloom and Handicraft Park 32 4
Gramudyog Vikas Kendra 50 5
Contd
146
Contd
Industries
Subsidy assistance to small industries 2,162 1,629
Cash assistance to small cabins & shops 13,190 13,190
Subsidy and interest subsidy to service
and trade 4,421 3,465
Hotel/Restaurants (Services)
Rehabilitation of affected tourism units 69 69
Agriculture
Input kits 58,163 58,163
Assistance for on-farm structure 46,872 46,871
Assistance for Irrigation assets 78,890 78,759
Women's Livelihood
Women covered under Women's
Livelihood Restoration Project 16,127 10,663
Community Preparedness, Capacity Building and Disaster

Mitigation
One of the most distinguishing features of the GERP is the focused
attention on capacity building, community participation and long-term
disaster management. A number of initiatives have been taken in this regard.
Varied activities such as the preparation of numerous pamphlets and
booklets, training programmes, workshops and sophisticated studies have
been undertaken. It is difficult to quantify the progress of such activities,
though one can always give figures such as the circulation of more than a
million pamphlets on earthquake-resistant design, the training of about
29,000 masons, as well as numerous workshops on the subject. Some of
these aspects have been described in detail in the next chapter.
147
VIII Some Innovative Aspects of the

Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Work
I n the previous chapter, the details of progress in respect of important

sectors have been given. One can see that the progress in terms of
number has been remarkable. It is worthwhile to mention that there are
unique and innovative features of the reconstruction work that have been
carried out. Some of these are described below.
Owner-driven Reconstruction of Houses

The most important and unique feature of the programme is perhaps
the owner-driven approach to reconstruction of houses. In the entire
process of reconstruction, community participation was ensured. It began
from the stage of damage assessment. Damage assessment is a difficult
task, as it involves a large number of houses and families spread over
thousands of villages. Several damage assessment teams were deployed.
As mentioned earlier, each damage assessment team consisted of three
persons, of whom one was either an NGO representative, or a social
worker. In order to ensure transparency, the lists of houses of different
categories were displayed at a public place in the village. They were also
displayed on the website of the GSDMA so that the lists were available in
the public domain.
Immediately after the earthquake, it was felt that the affected people
should relocate themselves to areas other than those severely affected.
The decision was, however, left to the community. The Gram Sabha or
village council, was to take a decision on relocation and in-situ recon-
struction. In the event of relocation, the site was identified by the villagers
themselves. It is interesting to note that there was minimum relocation
because in most cases people preferred in-situ reconstruction. Out of the
148
Some Innovative Aspects of the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Work
215,255 houses that are being reconstructed only 5,720 (2.7 per cent) are
fully relocated; 10,640 (5 per cent) houses are partially relocated in the
sense that they are reconstructed within the same revenue village. The
remaining 92.3 per cent of the houses are being reconstructed in-situ.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and in view of the large-
scale destruction, a crucial issue was how to undertake the reconstruction
of such a large number of houses within a reasonable time-frame. The
quality of construction was also an issue. Some experts suggested recon-
struction through public sector undertakings and private contractors. It
was pointed out that unless there was a unified approach to reconstruction
it would not be possible to ensure timely and quality construction. After
much discussion, it was decided that the basic approach would be a process
of owner-driven reconstruction. The government would provide financial
assistance, facilitate the availability of building materials and provide
technical support. The owners would reconstruct their houses themselves.
There was no rigid or uniform design for the houses. Owners
themselves could choose a design based on their needs and preferences.
Financial assistance from the government was given in three installments,
keeping in view the stages of construction. In most cases, the payment
was made through bank accounts. About 660,000 bank accounts were
opened for such payment during a period of four months. This required
the massive mobilization of personnel from various departments so as to
assist the banks to open the accounts within a short time. Truckloads of
passbooks had to be procured from Pune and other places.
Over a thousand outlets were opened by the Gujarat State Civil Supplies
Corporation and cooperative societies to supply building materials such as
cement and steel at reasonable prices.
For the purpose of technical supervision and technical guidance for
owner-driven reconstruction, about 1,900 engineers were recruited on a
temporary basis and stationed at villages in order to ensure construction
of earthquake-resistant houses. Measures for capacity building and
dissemination of information were undertaken. A large number of masons
and engineers were trained and over one billion pamphlets on earthquake-
resistant design for repair and reconstruction were distributed. As the
villagers themselves repaired and reconstructed their houses, they became
149
familiar with the techniques of retrofitting and multi-hazard resistant

construction. This resulted in technology transfer.
The other feature of the housing programme is partnerships with
NGOs. The Public-Private Partnership Programme (PPPP) was launched
so as to facilitate the participation of NGOs with the government. Eighty
NGOs and other agencies adopted 285 villages in five districts for
construction of houses. Of these 80 agencies, 52 were local/national NGOs,
12 international NGOs, five state governments and 11 corporate bodies/
state corporations. In most cases the NGO/agency and the Government
of Gujarat shared the expenditure on a 50:50 basis. Under this programme,
42,528 houses are constructed (about 20 per cent). In addition, for 24
villages of the Bhachau taluka, the CII undertook the reconstruction of
infrastructure with their own funds.
An important issue which emerged during the process of
reconstruction was the problems of tenants. No doubt the housing packages
did make some provisions for them. However, most of the schemes and
components of the programme focused on owners. In addition to houses,
shops also have tenants. With the collapse of houses, tenants were
automatically displaced. In many cases, after reconstruction, owners
refused to rent out the premises to tenants. In some cases, arrangements
were made to allot land to tenants on payment of development charges.
The problem was more acute in the case of commercial premises. In
such cases, the allotment of alternative land to tenants does not satisfy
them because location is crucial to commercial activities.
In some cases, people who could not produce their title and/or proof
of residence were not given assistance. Some NGOs and other agencies
made representations to the government on behalf of such people. In
many cases, the grievances were redressed. About 1,800 legal literacy
camps were organized in twenty talukas to provide legal aid to the victims
of the eartquake. In some, they were given assistance through existing
schemes such as the Indira Awas Yojana under the Rural Development
Programme. In retrospect, one feels that there was a need for a more
effective system of grievance redressal.
There were also instances of encroachers. They do not have ownership
of land, and hence, are not entitled to any assistance. However, some
150
provision was made to give them some assistance, for example, the schemes
meant for families below the poverty line. There were also cases of absentee
owners and tenants who had been occupying the premises for decades
Another interesting feature of the housing programme is independent
technical audit and quality control of the houses through a process of
third-party audit, so that they conform to hazard-resistant standards. There
were three agencies, namely, the National Council for Cement and Building
Materials (NCCBM), the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) and
IIT, Powai , which developed a quality control manual for quality checks
on the buildings being reconstructed. They also developed a training
programme for engineers.
The NCCBM, a Government of India agency, was assigned the work
of third-party quality audit. The organization was to inspect all the houses
being constructed and 10 per cent of those which were being repaired.
Such inspection commenced right from the beginning of the house
reconstruction programme. The NCCBM teams visit the houses at different
stages of construction, take samples to test in their laboratory and give
periodical reports. In the case of non-conformity to standards, remedial
measures are taken. Over 240,000 house inspections including repeat visits
were done till December 2003.
In the beginning, some deficiencies were noticed by the quality control
consultants. Subsequently, remedial measures were taken by the owners
in many cases. The help of NGOs was taken to rectify the buildings
which did not earlier conform to the guidelines, and where the owners
themselves could not rectify the deficiencies.
The Government of Gujarat also issued a resolution to the effect that
the houses which were reconstructed should be registered in the names
of both husband and wife, so as to protect the right of the woman to the
house. In the case of a widow, the house is registered in her name and not
in the name of any other relative.
House Insurance
Insurance is important for managing catastrophe risks. Some
countries have introduced programmes that envisage providing affordable
151
catastrophe insurance coverage to people. The need for insurance is well

accepted. However, problems arise on account of the asymmetry of
information, resulting in market failures. Private insurers do not readily
come forward to provide such insurance because large catastrophic events
can wipe out all the reserve. Even when catastrophe insurance is available
in some cases, the coverage is very low because of lack of public
awareness of benefits of insurance and also lack of innovative insurance
products.
It is interesting to note that the Gujarat State Disaster Management
Act of 2003 explicitly mentions, in the context of disaster management,
risk transfer mechanism as one of the mitigation measures: promoting
adequate risk-transfer, risk-sharing and cost-sharing mechanisms [Section
4(2)(g)].
Initially, the GSDMA, in consultation with the WB team, considered
three feasibility studies relating to insurance with the following objectives:
(i) conceptualizing the optimal design for a state-wide risk transfer
scheme;
(ii) outlining the necessary regulatory framework for the operation of
the Gujarat Earthquake Insurance Pool; and
(iii) developing an actuarially sound disaster loss model to be used for
setting the premium rates for catastrophe insurance coverage.
In fact, some preliminary steps relating to the selection of appropriate

consulting services were taken. It was subsequently felt that a single
study covering all the above aspects would be adequate. The objective of
such a study would be to conceptualize and define a structure for creating
an insurance pool as in some other countries such as Turkey. Further
analysis revealed that Gujarat already had a mechanism for public sector
insurance known as the Gujarat State Insurance Fund (GIF). At the national
level, four state-owned general insurance companies in the public sector
were already in existence. After liberalization, some private insurance
companies also emerged. Another aspect was that the insurance regulator
had prescribed a single countrywide minimum tariff for earthquake
insurance. Considering all these aspects, it was felt that there was no
comparative advantage for the GSDMA and the Government of Gujarat
152
to create an insurance pool that would compete with the existing insurers.
It would be worthwhile to create awareness and encourage people to buy
insurance from the above companies, as the premium rates were quite low.
It was decided that all the houses that were reconstructed would be
insured. The GSDMA invited expressions of interest from insurance
companies, which would be willing to co-insure with the GIF. Six
companies submitted their bids of which one withdrew. Hence, five
insurance companies were selected, of which IFFCO-TOKIO is a private
company and the other four are public sector, general insurance companies.
Different districts or parts of districts were allocated to the companies for
the purpose of insurance of houses.
The insurance covers 14 types of risks including fire, earthquake,
explosion, cyclone and flood. The coverage is for a period of 10 years. All
the G-5 houses are to be compulsorily insured, whereas it is optional for
other categories of houses. The premium rate is fixed by the Tariff Advisory
Committee. The premium is Rs 349.10 for an insured sum of Rs 1 lakh.
The premium amount is deducted when the third instalment is paid to the
beneficiary. The amount of the sum insured ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs
2 lakhs, keeping in view the size of the dwelling unit and location (rural or
urban).
In order to spread the risk, different districts/sub-districts are allotted
to different companies. An insurance company becomes the lead company
for the allotted area and the other four, along with GIF, become co-insurers.
The lead insurance company gets 35 per cent of the premium and the
other four companies equally share 20 per cent, while the GIF gets 45 per
cent. The risks are also shared in the same proportion.
Village-wise lists of insured persons are prepared and insurance is
given as a group insurance. A list of insured persons is kept at the taluka
office and each beneficiary is given a certificate indicating the insurance
of his house. Even if the insurance certificate is lost, the insured will be
able to make his claim based on the group insurance certificate available at
the taluka office. In the event of a disaster affecting a large number of
people, the Taluka Development Officer (TDO) is expected to facilitate
completion of procedural formalities in respect of the insurance claims.
153
In order to create awareness regarding insurance of houses, a number

of initiatives were taken by the GSDMA:
" A pamphlet indicating various aspects of insurance was given to each
beneficiary.
" 5,000 posters were printed and displayed at government offices
and public places to create awareness about the insurance of houses.
" Efforts were made to create awareness among women through posters
and other mechanisms such as exhibitions and fairs.
" 50,000 pamphlets on insurance were distributed among people,
NGOs and government officers.
" Various aspects of housing insurance were discussed in gram sabhas
or village councils in different parts of the state.
Urban Reconstruction
The approach of the Government of Gujarat and the GSDMA to urban
reconstruction, particularly those of the four towns of Kutch, has been
systematic and scientific.
The School of Architecture at the CEPT, Ahmedabad undertook, within
the first two months after the earthquake, a study on the nature of the
damage and approach to reconstruction/relocation in respect of some
urban areas, particularly the inner city of Bhuj. Faculty members and
students of the postgraduate programme in urban design in the School of
Architecture participated in the study. They conducted field visits, interacted
with the affected persons and undertook sample surveys in order to
ascertain the views of the public. They analysed the nature and pattern of
damage over time and in different parts of the settlement. Socio-economic
aspects were also considered. They examined, based on discussions with
the people, alternative approaches such as:
(i) development on the existing footprints respecting the existing
typology,
and
(ii) reconstitution of the plots with widening of roads and redefining
the existing community areas.
154
Reconstruction of houses at a relocation site in Bhuj
155
They worked out draft proposals for widening roads, modification of

land use, etc. They made two presentations to senior officers and ministers
in the presence of the Chief Minister during April 2001. They made a
number of suggestions including:
(i) Improving layout of settlements and urban infrastructure.

(ii) Setting up of a local authority at Bhuj to offer technical assistance
for appropriate construction and monitoring of reconstruction.
(iii) Finalizing an approach to preparation of a development plan.
(iv) Adoption of a Town Planning Scheme for re-development of the
inner city.
(v) Widening of roads to facilitate movement of vehicles at the time of
crisis and development of a hierarchy of streets.
(vi) Some reorganization of plots of land in order to widen the roads;
acquisition of plots that are cut more than 75 per cent.
The outcome of the above study provided valuable inputs for planning
reconstruction of the four towns of Kutch district. It also enabled policy
makers to crystallize their ideas and to formulate an approach envisaging
a mix of in-situ reconstruction and relocation with regard to the four
towns of Kutch district.
Area Development Authorities (ADA) for the four towns of Kutch
were set up under the provisions of the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban
Development Act of 1976. The ADAs engaged reputed consulting firms
for the preparation of various plans.
The government sponsored 19 studies to collect basic information
and identify the safety aspects for in-situ reconstruction. Development
plans were prepared so as to ensure the planned use of land.
The ADAs as well as the consultants undertook many of the functions
which were required to be done by the municipalities. Senior officers
were appointed as CEOs of the ADAs. The ADAs were entrusted with the
task of issuing building permissions and development of relocation sites.
The new development plans incorporated a new set of general development
control regulations.
156
A reconstructed house at a relocation site at Bhuj
157
158
Reconstructed municipality office building at Anjar

Town plans were prepared for three towns of Kutch. It was necessary
to survey and measure plots or individual holdings keeping in view the
importance envisaged in respect of wider streets, access of each plot to
the street and so on. Thousands of plots had to be surveyed and maps
prepared. Numerous disputes and grievances also had to be settled.
Public consultation was an important part of the planning process for
the development of the four towns of Kutch. The idea was to ensure
peoples participation in the process of planning.
For the purpose of public consultation, three categories of people
were addressed: local communities, people from local governments and
NGOs working at the local level. In addition, eminent local people were
also included. Some details of public consultation in the context of Anjar
town will illustrate the approach. Public consultation was organized in
two stages. In the first stage various communities, peoples representatives
and eminent persons were consulted with regard to the formulation of a
vision document and related aspects of development of the town. After
analysing the views and opinions of people, a vision statement and a
conceptual development plan were prepared. In the second stage, public
consultation focused on the vision statement and the conceptual
development plan. The idea was to explain the conceptual plan to the
public and get their views and suggestions.
After the preparation of the development plan, written comments were
invited from the stakeholders as per sections 14 and 16 of the Gujarat
Town Planning and Urban Development Act of 1976. This was a statutory
requirement.
The draft development plan of Anjar (Volume 3) describes the process,
outcome and conclusions of public consultations. It indicates how the
target groups were selected from among those living in temporary
rehabilitation shelters and other areas, NGOs, members of the municipality
and eminent persons. Consultation sessions were organized at various
locations. The document indicates the dates of consultation, locations,
community groups, number of households who participated and so on.
The public consultations followed a format of semi-structured and open-
minded discussion. There was adequate scope for people to raise issues
and offer ideas and suggestions; the teams conducting the sessions acted
as facilitators.
159
An urban relocation site
160
Role of NGOs
As mentioned earlier, a number of NGOs played an important role
during both the relief and reconstruction phases. An innovative aspect of
the programme is that it provided a systematic framework for public-
private partenership, especially for rehabilitation and reconstruction work.
The participation of NGOs was not limited to the housing sector. As
Table 31 indicates, NGOs also participated in reconstruction of school
buildings, health facilities and restoration of livelihood.
Table 31: Progress of activities taken

up by NGOs as of January 2004
Component Number of NGOs Target Completed
Housing
Reconstruction of Houses
in 286 Villages 80 42,528 41,902
Construction of Worksheds 14 945 638
Education
Reconstruction of Additional
Classrooms for Primary Schools - 3,938 3,810
Reconstruction of Municipality Schools
in Surendranagar and Radhanpur 9 8 6
Health
Reconstruction of Health Facilities - 246 246
Reconstruction of Anganwadis 45 246 246
Livelihood (Beneficiaries Covered)
Women's Livelihood Restoration Project 13 16,127 10,663
Formation of Self-help Groups (SHGs) 36 1,885 SHGs with
35,618 members
Day Care Centre 15 157 centres with
8,558 children.
Note: For the last two items, i.e., formation of SHGs and Day Care Centre, there are no
targets. The details provided are the achievements.
161
162
Newly constructed village Sayan

An important role was played by Abhiyan. In the aftermath of the

1998 cyclone, some NGOs joined to create Abhiyan, with a view to
facilitating information sharing and better coordination among themselves.
In the beginning, 11 NGOs joined; this number gradually increased to 29.
This arrangement was further strengthened and played an important role
in the earthquake relief and reconstruction.
An innovative concept known as Setu was introduced by Abhiyan.
Setu is basically a resource centre for about 25 villages. Each centre is
operated by a support group of seven to eight people. The idea is to
facilitate and create an information linkage between the Government of
Gujarat and local communities. At Setu, information is collected from the
villages and transmitted to Abhiyan once every week, or once a fortnight.
Abhiyan gives the necessary guidance to the Setu. The information, if
necessary, is passed on to the government so that relevant issues are
addressed. The Setus are managed by young men and women. At the
peak of the reconstruction work, 33 Setus covered 400 villages. Even
though the project is similar to that of an extension organization in the
government, the Setus functioned more effectively because of the
commitment of the personnel and their rapport with the village
communities.
The Sustainable Environment and Ecological Developmental Society
(SEEDS), an NGO, undertook a comprehensive reconstruction programme
in the Patanka village of Patan district. The programme involved
reconstruction as well as capacity building of the villagers and community
preparedness. Other agencies such as the United Nations Centre for
Regional Development (UNCRD), the Earthquake Disaster Mitigation
Research Centre, Japan, and the National Society for Earthquake
Technology, Nepal, participated in the capacity-building activities in Patanka.
In Bhuj, the Bhuj Development Council, an NGO, played an important
role in the process of town planning. It set up small offices at eight locations
in the walled city, with personnel and computers and displayed their plans.
The affected people could file objections and offer suggestions. This NGO
interacted regularly with the planning consultants and government agencies.
Similar efforts were made in Bhachau and Anjar.
163
Abhiyan, the GSDMA and UNDP brought out a report entitled Coming
Together, a few months after the earthquake. It contains details of the
work done by NGOs in areas such as shelter, water, irrigation systems,
health and livelihood. Five such editions have been published from time to
time. These volumes contain a wealth of information on the contribution
of NGOs in the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Gujarat.
It may, however, be noted, that NGOs played a limited role in the
urban reconstruction as compared to the rural reconstruction. Government
agencies such as the GUDC and ADAs played a leading role. NGOs,
however, facilitated the interaction between the citizens and the government
agencies in some of the urban areas.
Multi-hazard Resistant Construction and Retrofitting

Many measures were taken to promote multi-hazard resistant
construction with a view to reducing the vulnerability of buildings on a
sustainable basis. Guidelines prepared by A.S. Arya, Seismic Adviser to
the GSDMA were widely circulated in the earthquake-affected areas. The
guidelines relate to various aspects of repair and reconstruction of houses.
The guidelines have taken into account local resources and local technology.
Some innovative construction technologies have also been adopted. The
following guidelines are prepared by the GSDMA:
" Guidelines for cyclone-resistant construction of buildings in Gujarat.

" Guidelines for construction of compressed stabilized earthen wall
buildings.
" Guidelines for repair, restoration and retrofitting of masonry buildings
in the Kutch earthquake-affected areas of Gujarat.
" Guidelines for reconstruction and new construction in the Kutch
earthquake-affected areas of Gujarat.
" Guidelines for control on quality of construction in earthquake-affected
areas of Gujarat.
These guidelines were circulated amongst various agencies and

individuals associated with reconstruction programme such as NGOs,
engineers and even masons.
164
Earthquake-resistant construction at Bhuj
165
Meeting the Demand for Skilled Masons

There was huge demand for masons because of the widespread
damage and destruction. They came from neighbouring regions and states.
Yet, there was a problem of the availability of skilled masons. Most of the
masons were not familiar with hazard-resistant construction and retrofitting.
In view of this, efforts were made to undertake the training of masons on
an emergency basis. Masons who participated in the training were provided
with the cost of travel and food. Organizations such as District Rural
Development Agencies, the Directorate of Employment and Training, the
NCCBM and various NGOs, were involved in this process.
While designing the course for training of masons, emphasis was given
on practical aspects. It was not feasible for masons to undergo training
for a long period. Hence, a one-week training programme was designed
and given to the agencies providing the training. This was with a view to
ensuring the quality of training, as it was being carried out at a number of
locations. Besides imparting skills through classroom lectures, masons
were given hands-on training at construction sites. The training covered
aspects such as earthquake zones, availability of building materials,
preference of the people for different building materials, cost effectiveness
and safety. Booklets covering the relevant aspects were prepared and
circulated among the trainees. Training programmes were arranged not
only at district headquarters but also at taluka and village centres.
About 20,000 masons were trained by the Directorate of Employment
and Training; another 700 by the NCCBM. About 500 masons were trained
by an NGO as a part of community-based disaster preparedness. Masons
were also trained by other NGOs and District Rural Development Agencies.
Overall, more than 29,000 masons were trained. Further, the masons
who were trained were given a kit worth Rs 1,200 which could be utilized
for construction work.
Training of Engineers
As already mentioned, about 1,900 engineers were recruited to
supervise the housing reconstruction work and provide technical guidance
to the people. Disbursement of assistance for construction of houses was
based on the certificates given by the engineers. It was necessary to train
166
Training of masons
167
these and other engineers on hazard-resistant design and construction.

The GSDMA involved expert institutions such as the IITs and the NCCBM
in this task. In some cases, foriegn experts were invited to impart training.
Training programmes addressed not only government engineers but also
private engineers and architects.
For government engineers, six-week training courses were provided
by IIT, Powai and IIT, Kanpur, at Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Bhuj on the
following subjects:
" Seismic retrofitting;

" Seismic design of concrete and masonry structures;
" Seismic design of bridges; and
" Special course on earthquake engineering for architects.
Some of the other training programmes/workshops conducted were

as follows:
(i) Engineers were trained on 'Repairs and Rehabilitation of RCC
Structures' by experts from IIT, Powai, at Gandhinagar, Rajkot,
Bhuj and Gandhidham.
(ii) Engineers, architects and technical experts were trained on
'Architectural Concern in Seismic Design of Buildings' by experts
from IIT, Kanpur.
(iii) Government and private engineers were trained on 'Seismic Design
of RCC Buildings' by experts from IIT, Kanpur.
(iv) Engineers were trained on 'Earthquake Resistant Design and
Reinforced Concrete Buildings' by experts from IIT, Kanpur.
(v) Government and private engineers were trained on 'Seismic Design
of Bridges' by experts from IIT, Kanpur.
(vi) A seminar was organized for engineers and architects on 'Repairs
and Strengthening Guide for Earthquake Damage in Low-rise
Domestic Buildings' by Dinesh Patel (an expert from the UK).
(vii) A two-day workshop on new seismic code IS 18932002 was
conducted in March 2003 for more than a 100 participants.
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Revision of Syllabus and Training of Teachers of Technical

Institutions
It was realized that training practising engineers alone would not be
adequate for capacity building on a sustainable basis. The syllabi of degree
and diploma courses in engineering do not focus adequately on seismic
engineering and as a result, diploma holders and graduate engineers do not
acquire the necessary skill on the subject. Training practising engineers
in seismic engineering may supplement their existing skill but it cannot
substitute knowledge and training imparted in course of formal academic
teaching. Hence, the GSDMA initiated steps during the later part of 2001,
for revising the syllabi of engineering colleges and polytechnics. A.S.
Arya, Seismic Adviser to GSDMA and Sudhir Jain Professor at IIT, Kanpur,
prepared the seismic engineering components to be incorporated in the
syllabi of diploma, degree and master's level programmes. The Government
of Gujarat also issued the necessary administrative instructions. All the
engineering colleges and polytechnics of Gujarat have subsequently
incorporated seismic engineering in their curriculum. Based on the Gujarat
experience, the Government of India has begun a similar programme at
the national level.
Mere revision of the syllabus would not be effective unless the teachers
of the technical institutions are familiar with the subject and are in a position
to teach and guide the students. The GSDMA organized training
programmes for teachers of technical institutions. Short-term and medium-
term courses were designed for the purpose. There were 13 modules of
one-week duration each that were designed for engineering teachers. All
the modules together are equivalent to a full semester programme in
earthquake engineering. The training programme commenced in July 2003.
More than 500 teachers were expected to be trained in different modules
under this programme. However, till the end of 2003, only 120 teachers
were trained in selected topics; the shortfall was because of the lack of
enthusiasm on the part of the department concerned. In addition, teachers
were sponsored for an intensive 19-week programme at IIT, Kanpur.
169
Strengthening of the Regulatory System for Safe Construction

The GSDMA has sponsored a study by reputed consultants on the
existing procedures for building permissions and enforcement of building
codes. One aspect of the study is to examine the General Development
Control Regulation (GDCR) and to prepare a model GDCR that can be
used by urban local bodies. This is because the existing GDCR has
inconsistencies and several parts of it are difficult to comprehend. Unless
the GDCR has clarity and consistency, it will be difficult to enforce the
building codes.
Another study which has already commenced relates to the building
codes. The objective is to analyse the existing codes and to suggest
revisions, if necessary, to meet the specific requirement of the state keeping
in view its hazard and vulnerability profile. The study will also prepare a
handbook of commentaries on building codes, which will provide guidance
to professionals for implementing these building codes in design and
construction. The study is being undertaken by experts from IIT, Kanpur.
A manual containing systems and procedures to assist municipal and
area development authorities in reviewing building plans and structural
designs is being prepared. It will provide guidelines for the submission of
drawings and structural designs. It will also have a checklist for ascertaining
whether a particular drawing or design conforms to seismic standards. A
workshop was organized to sensitize engineers of municipal and area
development authorities on seismic standards and design.
Licensing of Engineers and Certification of Masons

It is well known that many buildings collapsed during the earthquake
because of faulty structural design and poor quality of construction.
Building codes and bye-laws can be enforced only if those involved in
design and construction of buildings follow them. The training of engineers
and masons can facilitate such enforcement. It is also necessary to ascertain
and verify whether engineers and masons are familiar with various aspects
of seismic safety and hazard resistance. At present, there is no mechanism
for ensuring that those with the necessary competence are selected for
actual construction work. Though some local authorities prepare a register
170
of qualified engineers there is no process of screening them based on their

skill and capability. An individual who wants to build a house has no way
of knowing if an engineer or a mason has the necessary skill to ensure
appropriate design and construction.
In most parts of India, compliance with seismic codes in construction
was not mandatory prior to the Kutch earthquake. In most cases, it
depended on the discretion of the owner or builder concerned, though
many of the government departments tried to follow the codes. For
example, in the AMC, there was no insistence on the explicit compliance
of seismic codes, though there was some requirement relating to certain
features of the code. In India, there are legislations in respect of professions
such as medicine, law, chartered accountancy and architecture. In addition
to legal provisions, there is regulation by professional bodies. There is no
such legal provision for civil engineers. There is no licensing system for
structural engineers. A person with a degree in civil engineering can go
ahead and practice. The general custom in construction is that an architect
takes the overall charge and a structural engineer plays a role only through
the architect. A citizen who wants to construct a building cannot easily
identify a competent structural engineer.7
The GSDMA has sponsored a study to work out a system of the
licensing of engineers based on written and practical tests. For this purpose,
an autonomous agency comprising representatives of the government,
practising engineers, architects and other professionals will be set up. A
draft legislation for this purpose has been prepared.
The GSDMA has initiated measures to introduce a system of
certification of masons. In order to ascertain the competence of masons,
three levels of skills could be considered:
" Core skills

" Basic skills
" Advance skills
The certification may be done based on tests consisting of written

and practical components. The Gujarat Council of Vocational Training
(GCVT), an autonomous society under the Department of Labour and
7
Further details are given in chapter 17 of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (2002).
171
Employment, will implement the programme. Such competency-based

certification will provide an opportunity to a mason to improve his skill.
He can be trained in respect of skills which he does not have. There are a
large number of masons in the state. At the initial stage, it is envisaged to
cover about 10 per cent of these workers. Certification will be voluntary.
It is expected that masons who are certified will have better opportunity
for employment and higher wages.
Measures for Long-term Disaster Management

An important aspect of the GERP is the emphasis on medium and
long-term disaster management. Even when the task of reconstruction
appeared enormous and challenging, these aspects of disaster management
were kept in view right from the beginning. The GSDMA undertook wide-
ranging activities relating to capacity building, disaster management plans
and preparedness for emergency response (Tables 33, 34, 35). Above all,
it took effective steps for introducing a legal framework. Indeed, Gujarat
became a pioneer in India in introducing such measures.
Disaster Management Policy and Act

The Government of Gujarat announced the Gujarat State Disaster
Management Policy in September 2002. The policy envisages a number
of objectives, some of which are enumerated below:
" To assess risks and vulnerabilities associated with various disasters.

" To develop appropriate disaster prevention and mitigation strategies.
" To provide clarity on roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders.
" To ensure coordination among agencies related to disaster
management.
" To create awareness and preparedness, and to provide advice and
training to agencies involved in disaster management.
" To strengthen the capacities of the community.
" To establish and maintain pro-active programmes of risk reduction.
" To develop and implement programmes for risk sharing and risk
transfer.
172
" To address general issues in disaster management.

" To develop disaster management as a distinct management discipline.
In order to provide a legal framework, the Gujarat State Disaster

Management Act, 2003, was passed by the State Assembly in March
2003. Gujarat is the first state in India to introduce such an Act. It is a
very comprehensive legislation, which derives from similar legislations in
other countries. The draft was prepared after an elaborate study of similar
legislations in different countries and related legislations in India. There
was wide consultation with stakeholders. The Act gives statutory status
to the GSDMA and envisages a multi-hazard approach to disaster
management. It is based on the premise that disaster management is the
responsibility of all the state departments and agencies. It enumerates the
powers, functions and duties of various departments and functionaries at
state, district and sub-district levels. It also indicates duties of community
groups, youth organizations, industries, private and public sector entities,
voluntary agencies and citizens. It provides for the declaration of an area
as a disaster-affected area. The Act also prescribes offences and penalties.
Establishment of earthquake observatories and accelerographs

At the national level, the IMD uses seismological instruments for
observing seismic phenomena. Keeping in view the recent earthquakes,
the Government of India has planned to augment the instrumentation
system. The GSDMA felt that though augmentation of the national network
would help improve the status of earthquake monitoring in Gujarat, it may
not be optimal for the state, even if it is adequate for the country as a
whole. Consequently, a group was constituted under the chairmanship of
A.S. Arya to analyse the need of seismological instrumentation for Gujarat.
The group comprised experts from the IMD, IIT, Roorkee, and the Gujarat
Engineering Research Institute (GERI). Based on their recommendations,
the GSDMA has planned to set up/upgrade observatories at 16 locations
and accelerographs at 40 locations. Instrument specifications have been
prepared by the GERI in consultation with the IMD and IIT, Roorkee.
The process of procurement of these instruments has been initiated.
173
An additional seismological monitoring unit has been set up with the

help of the GEON Institute, Russia. Equipment has been provided by the
GEON Institute through Asianet Communication, Thiruvananthapuram.
This is a mobile unit that can be shifted from place to place depending on
the requirement. Such a unit would be useful in the context of seismic
activities in areas such as Rajkot, Junagadh and Jamnagar.
Establishment of a Seismological Research Institute

It is envisaged to set up a seismological research institute. The idea is
to undertake study, research and training in seismology. A variety of data
on seismic aspects is being generated. It is necessary to study such data
in order to identify mitigation measures. At present, there is no specialized
institute dedicated to seismology in India, even though institutes such as
the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) have been doing
excellent work in the field. The Government of Gujarat has signed a
memorandum of understanding with the Earth Institute of Columbia
University, USA, for studies in some specific areas. One of the studies
relates to setting up of the Seismological Research Institute in India. The
Columbia University has already submitted an inception report. The study
will identify the core issues that will be addressed by the proposed
Seismological Research Institute, its design and other related aspects.
Simultaneously, a Director General for the institute has been appointed. A
fund to meet the institute's capital expenditure has also been earmarked.
Establishment of the Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management

(GIDM)
It is proposed to set up an institute of disaster management with a
view to catering to training needs of all the stakeholders in this area. The
institute will undertake study, research and documentation, in addition to
training. The activities of the institute will cover the mitigation and
management of all types of disasters including fire and chemical accidents.
An international consultant will be assigned the task of designing the
institute. This will take some time. In the meantime, the institute will begin
its operation at the Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA),
Ahmedabad.
174
Review of disaster management plans

District-level disaster management plans of all the 25 districts were
reviewed by the GSDMA and suggestions and guidelines were issued for
further improvement. The existing cyclone contingency plan at the state
level was also reviewed by the GSDMA. Recommendations were made
for modification keeping in view the provisions of the Disaster Management
Act. Guidelines for preparations of local-level cyclone contingency plans
were prepared and circulated among different districts. A pocket-sized
booklet on cyclone preparedness has been prepared and circulated in all
the cyclone-prone areas. The GSDMA has prepared a state-level response
plan for chemicals and industrial disasters.
The draft of a handbook on preparedness for fire, chemical and nuclear
emergencies has been compiled. The preparation of a set of general
guidelines for droughts is also in progress.
Upgrading the emergency response system and search and rescue

capability
An important lesson learnt during the earthquake is that we need to
upgrade our search and rescue capability and improve upon the existing
system of emergency response. Foreign search and rescue teams arrived
with state-of-the-art equipment that were more effective than the existing
equipment available in India. The GSDMA has taken a number of initiatives
to upgrade systems in recent times.
Improvement of control rooms

The GSDMA, with the help of international experts in disaster
management, reviewed the status of control rooms at the state and district
levels. Interim guidelines for control room design and operations were
circulated to the districts. They contain details of equipment, location of
the control room information centre, its function, staff, etc. A model
layout plan for a control room was also circulated.
State Disaster Resource Network (SDRN)

As mentioned earlier, during the Kutch earthquake, a large number of
175
equipment had to be deployed. This is inevitable at the time of major

disasters. It is thus necessary to have an inventory of equipment and
other resources for immediate response. Keeping this in view, the SDRN
was created. The objective is to have village-level data for the thousands
of villages in the state. The database includes the village profile, hazard
scenario, demographic features, available resources, details of village
disaster management teams and lists of contact persons. The SDRN
provides for creation and updating of village, taluka, district and
state-level disaster resource inventory. The Government of Gujarat has a
state-wide fiber optic wide area network, the Gujarat State Wide Area
Network (GSWAN), which connects all the government offices up to the
taluka level. The SDRN is hosted on the GSWAN and is available in both
English and Gujarati.
The Government of India also introduced the India Disaster Resource
Network (IDRN) which is an inventory of equipment, both in the public
and private sector, for deployment during disaster. The focus is on
equipment, whereas the SDRN includes a more comprehensive database.
Regional Emergency Response Centres

It is proposed to establish regional emergency response centres at
five locations in Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Baroda and Bhuj. It is
also proposed to engage international consultants to suggest the design,
equipment, staffing and other details for such centres. In the interim, the
fire service units of Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot will operate as regional
emergency response units. For this purpose, the GSDMA has already
provided state-of-the-art equipment sets to the three municipal corporations.
ERUs
An ERU has been established at the Ahmedabad Fire Brigade.
CORDAID, a Netherlands-based NGO, provided equipment that is meant
for advanced search and rescue capability in disaster situations. The
important categories of equipment are:
" Trauma Care Unit (ambulance with a life-support system);
" Emergency medical and rescue unit;
176
Training of incident command officers organized by ICET, Netherlands
177
" Hook-Arm Chassis and containers;

" HAZMAT Van; and
" Command Unit (useful for immediate setting up of a command/
communication post).
Multi-disciplinary training in search and rescue operations

The GSDMA, with the help of ICET, Netherlands, and the AMC,
organized training in search and rescue and emergency medical services
for 49 fire, police and medical services personnel. The training was for
one month and held in the Netherlands and Germany. The training was
carried out in three groups. They will, in turn, train 500 other personnel.
The process of training has already commenced. In addition, it is proposed
to train 11 teams of 30 each from the State Reserve Police Force in search
and rescue operations.
At Nauka Talim Kendra, Vadodara, two batches of 30 firemen and
fire officers each were trained in flood rescue.
Emergency equipment for municipalities

Most of the municipalities do not have adequate equipment and trained
personnel to meet fire emergencies. Measures have been initiated to provide
emergency equipment, which are meant not only for fire emergency but
also for search and rescue in disaster situations, to about a 100 municipalities
in the state. The municipalities have already been identified by the
Department of Urban Development. The procurement process has been
initiated by the GUDC.
Provincial fire service
In Gujarat, the fire services are with municipal corporations and

municipalities. There is no integrated fire service in the state. In view of
the fact that fire services have the potential to undertake effective search
and rescue operations, a committee was set up by the Government of
Gujarat to review the recommendations of the Standing Committee
178
Search and Rescue training of Gujarat officials in The Netherlands
179
constituted by the Government of India and to look into the best practices
in other states. The committee has done considerable work on the subject.
Some members of the committee visited the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue
Services to study their arrangement and suitability to Gujarat. The
committee examined other alternatives, which include corporate
organizations and public-private partnership, in search and rescue.
Emergency communication
At the time of a disaster, normal communication systems are adversely

affected and quite often, they break down. This affects preliminary damage
and loss assessment, and even search and rescue work. Hence, emergency
communication is extremely important. Furthermore, a system of early
warning is crucial not only to emergency communication but also to alert
people in the context of a likely event. The GSDMA has initiated a study
on early hazard warning and emergency communication system. It
addresses the nature of the emergency communication system required
and the modalities of disseminating early warning. Gujarat already has a
wide area network known as GSWAN, which connects, through optical
fiber, districts and talukas. There are satellite phones at district
headquarters. Yet, it is necessary to have an effective system of emergency
communication which is integrated to the existing systems and has the
desired level of redundancy. It is also necessary to integrate HAM radios
to a system of emergency communication for disaster management.
Community-based disaster preparedness programme

The GSDMA, in collaboration with the UNDP, has initiated a
community-based disaster preparedness programme known as the Disaster
Risk Management (DRM) Programme. This is part of a national programme
initiated by the Government of India. The programme initially envisaged
covering 3,598 villages in 44 talukas of 11 districts. The villages were
identified on the basis of their vulnerability to different types of disasters.
Subsequently, the programme was expanded to cover about 4,174 villages
in 14 districts. The programme also envisages covering some municipal
and corporation areas.
180
The programme focuses on capacity building of communities through

awareness, training and institutional arrangement. The programme will
involve village youth in a big way. It envisages identifying young volunteers
in the villages to form teams for various activities and prepare them for
disaster response. Such teams will be organized for tasks such as early
warning, rescue, first-aid and medical services, evacuation and shelter
management. Members of each team will be imparted training to perform
the tasks assigned to them. They will also be provided with necessary
materials and equipment. The objective of the programme is to ensure
long-term capacity building of the community and reduce their dependence
on external sources.
Prior to the above programme, the GSDMA had initiated a programme
called 'Affat Sajjata Sena' (Disaster Preparedness Brigade) in 484
earthquake-affected villages. This also envisages involvement of village
youth, their capacity building and training in earthquake resistant
construction. The programme is implemented through NGOs.
Another approach to community awareness and preparedness is
through gram sabhas or village councils. In 2002, the Government of
Gujarat initiated steps to activate these councils. Senior officers and
ministers have been attending these village councils, which meet regularly
in all the 18,000 villages of the state, at which various developmental
issues are discussed. Disaster preparedness is included as a permanent
item on the agenda of the gram sabhas. From time to time, details on
specific types of hazards are provided by the GSDMA to District Panchayats
for discussion in the gram sabhas.
Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities

The GSDMA has undertaken numerous activities related to IEC. Some
of these are:
" Over one million pamphlets on earthquake-resistant construction were
circulated in the earthquake-affected areas of Gujarat.
" Four Shake Table demonstrations and many video shows have been
conducted for awareness generation and confidence building.
181
" Audio cassettes by folk singers such as Bhikhudan Gadhavi and

Shabudin Rathod, were prepared in order to create awareness through
music and humour.
" A video cassette in the form of folk dances called Bhavai was prepared
on the construction and retrofitting of houses.
" Full-page advertisements in local dailies were released, indicating
appropriate methodologies to be adopted for the reconstruction of
houses.
" The display of messages on multi-hazard resistant construction and
retrofitting on 600 state transport buses in five worst-affected districts.
" Hoardings of seven kinds at strategic locations in the entire state of
Gujarat for awareness creation.
" Brochures were prepared in Gujarati.
Table 32: IEC activities

Description Number
Pamphlets 100,0000
Nirdeshika for Seismic Resistant Construction 71,000
Posters on Various Aspects 44,000
Pamphlets and Posters on Insurance of Houses 50,500
Guidelines for Construction 12,000
Training Literature for Engineers 860
Training Literature for Masons 10,100
Information on Status of GERP 51,863
CDs on Current Status of the Project 1,225
Audio and Video Cassettes 5
Studies on important aspects of disaster management

The GSDMA has sponsored several studies on important aspects of
disaster management. These studies focus on long-term aspects such as
hazard assessment, mitigation, preparedness and response. Consultants
182
were selected through international competitive bidding. The idea is to

have state-of-the art and world-class knowledge and expertise for the
studies. The following studies have been undertaken:
" Emergency Communication and Early Warning System

" Seismic Microzonation
" Hazard, Risk and Vulnerability Analysis
" Damage and Loss Assessment Methodology
" Review of Building Codes
" Establishment of Regional Disaster Response Centres
" Establishment of Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management.
" Establishment of the Institute of Seismological Research
Tables 33, 34 and 35 below contain more details on the kind of training
that was undertaken:
Table 33: Disaster management capacity building

Training Target Group Number Remarks
Engineers Govt and private engineers Trained by experts

and architects >6000 from IITs, NCCBM, etc.
Masons Masons working in the Trained by Directorate

state including masons of Employment and
from outside the state >29000 Training, NGOs, etc.
S&R Fire officers, firemen, Trained at ICET,

policemen and doctors 49 Netherlands
Fire Fighting Fire personnel and At Ahmedabad by

and S&R police personnel 88 ICET trained persons
Flood Rescue Firemen/fire officers 60 At Vadodara
Incident Officers from different Two training

Command govt. depts at state and programmes held at
System district levels 72 Gandhinagar and
Jamnagar with the help
of international disaster
management experts.
Contd
183
Contd
Instructors Course Fire, police and Facilitated by trainers
and Commander Medical Personnel 24 from CORDAID/ICET
Training
Training on Faculty of engineering and Total targeted 500.

Revised technical institutes 180 Trainers from IIT &LD
Syllabus College of Engineering
Training Under District and taluka-level

DRM officers 831
Programme
Table 34: Emergency equipment

Emergency Equipment Target Number Remarks
For Municipal AMC, Surat

Corporations Municipal Corporation 3 sets
(SMC), Rajkot Municipal
Corporation (RMC)
ERU Ahmedabad Fire brigade Established in
association
1 set with
CORDAID,
Netherlands
based NGO.
Emergency equipment 100 municipalities
Table 35: Plans and workshops

Disaster Management Number
District Disaster Management Plans 25

Village Disaster Management Plans 478
National and International Workshops 30
184
Social Impact Assessment

Social impact assessment studies were undertaken through independent
organizations such as the M.S. University, Vadodara, and the Gujarat
Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad, on a continuing basis, in
order to monitor the social dimensions of the earthquake reconstruction
programme. The focus is on identification of needs and to ascertain the
impact of the programme in addition to restoring the social welfare of the
affected persons. The idea is to have an independent mechanism to
implement the social safeguards framework.
The methodology involves a combination of surveys such as household
surveys, direct observations and participatory techniques. Numerous
interviews were held with the primary stakeholders.
The studies have been carried out in the worst affected districts of
Kutch, Patan, Surendranagar, Rajkot and Jamnagar. Based on the findings
of the studies, a number of remedial measures are being taken from time
to time to rectify deficiencies, if any, in the implementation of the
programme.
A Reconnaissance Survey on Disposal of Debris

In order to ascertain the nature of the use and disposal of debris, the
GSDMA undertook a study that covered 79 villages across 12 talukas of
Rajkot, Surendranagar and Jamnagar districts. The methodology involved
discussions with villagers and field-level officials, and reconnaissance
surveys. It was found that materials such as wood and iron rods were
reused, whereas other types of debris such as broken bricks and stones
were used for widening of roads, erecting or augmenting field boundaries
to check soil erosion and filling of low-lying areas. Water bodies like
water ponds and tanks were not affected by the disposal of debris. Pieces
of wood were used as fuel in some cases. The general finding is that the
debris disposal practices in the villages did not have adverse effects on the
environment.
185
Benefit Monitoring
A process of benefit monitoring was introduced. An international
consultancy firm, KPMG, was assigned the task to evaluate how and to
what extent the intended benefits of the project components have accrued
to the target groups. It is an attempt to go beyond the routine review of
progress in terms of numbers and to look at quantitative aspects and
ascertain if the earthquake-affected persons have actually received the
benefits. Some aspects of the benefit monitoring study and some of its
preliminary results are indicated below.
Objectives:
" Develop a benefit monitoring framework to record changes and

developments taking place as a result of GERP interventions;
" Develop a benefit monitoring system that will enable a two-way
communication for each project entity for effective knowledge sharing
and mutual learning;
" Monitor and verify the derived benefits from the project interventions
on an ongoing basis over a period of two years; and
" Provide feedback on the project design, implementation and derived
benefits to enable all stakeholders to review projects and affect mid-
course corrections where possible.
Scope:
" To cover all the 16 sectors under GERP.

" During implementation and after completion of project period.
Methodology:
Quantitative Surveys:
" First Survey: covering 8,000 beneficiaries (June-July 2003).

" Second Survey: covering 4,000 beneficiaries (March-April 2004).
" Third Survey: covering 8,000 beneficiaries (November-December
2004).
186
Qualitative studies:
" On focus areas which cannot be covered through a quantitative

approach.
" On some issues that would be identified from the quantitative surveys.
Key Findings of the First Sample Survey:
" Social and Community Infrastructure
Social and community infrastructure in most cases, has not only

been restored to pre-earthquake levels but in some places even
exceeded those levels.
" Housing
Nearly 50 per cent of the beneficiaries say that they received final
payments within 18 months of the earthquake.
93 per cent of the beneficiaries have started living in their new
houses; high occupancy reflects the confidence of the dwellers
in the new houses.
There has been an increase of 85 per cent in the number of
families below the poverty line living in pucca houses, as compared
to a 41 per cent increase for those families above the poverty
line. Of the beneficiaries, 90 per cent are now living in a similar
or larger house as compared to the pre-earthquake situation.
Newly-constructed houses have more amenities than before the
earthquake.
Overall, there has been 61 per cent increase in beneficiaries living
in homes with separate toilets, with each of the sample districts
showing a statistically significant increase.
The beneficiaries have responded well to GERP's efforts to
encourage the usage of local and recycled material.
Beneficiaries seem to be unaware that husband and wife jointly
own new houses.
187
" Disaster Preparedness

Beneficiaries' awareness of risk-transfer mechanisms has increased
substantially. Not only has insurance awareness increased but there
is a significant increase in voluntary insurance.
Almost all reconstructed houses have used multi-hazard resistant
technology and awareness of disaster management groups is
increasing.
At least one trained mason is available in three out of four villages.
" Education
Not only have the damaged schools been restored but the number
of classrooms has increased as well.
Nearly nine out of 10 students who dropped out of school because
of the earthquake have rejoined.
" Water Supply

More people have access to water through pipes/public stand posts.
Overall, the proportion of beneficiaries receiving adequate water
through a piped source has remained the same.
Beneficiaries are willing to pay for water.
" Agriculture
About 95 per cent of the beneficiaries have found the assistance
given by the government useful.
Despite an earthquake and two successive drought years, the income
of 86 per cent of the farmers has been restored.
" Cottage and Village Industry

Incomes of more than 80 per cent of the respondents have been
restored to their pre-earthquake levels.
" Women's Livelihood Restoration Programme

The earning capacity of more than 90 per cent of the women surveyed
has been restored.
188
Benefit quantification:
The GERP has not only restored the quality of life index (indicated in
Chart 7 below) to the pre-earthquake levels but has also exceeded it.
Chart 7: Some findings of the benefit monitoring survey
Qualify of life index
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
Before EQ Post EQ July 2003
Housing
100%
80%
60%
98% 99%
40%
70%
53%
20%
0%
BPL APL
Before EQ July 2003
Pucca houses
189
60%
50%
40%
30% 58%
20% 38% 38%
10% 19%
0%
BPL APL
Before EQ July 2003
Separate toilets
Disaster Preparedness
60%
50%
40%
30% 57%
20%
10%
7%
0%
Before EQ July 2003
Awareness of housing insurance
Water Supply
50%
40%
30%
49
43
20%
10%
0%
% Beneficiaries accessing water through pipes
Before EQ July 2003
190
The first sample survey had covered 8,000 beneficiaries in 188 villages
and 12 urban locations. The second sample survey (March-April 2004)
covered 4,391 beneficiaries in 65 villages and 14 urban locations.
Infrastructure-related changes were assessed in respect of 20 common
villages from the first sample survey. It is envisaged that beneficiary-level
changessocio-economic aspectswill be monitored with reference to
the second survey and the final survey.
The findings of the second survey were similar to that of the first
survey. There was further progress in the restoration of social and
community infrastructure. There was greater improvement in the overall
quality of life index.
The second survey had more focus, as compared to the first, on
urban housing. The percentage of beneficiaries with pucca houses has
increased significantly. This is so even for those below the poverty line
and those belonging to socially vulnerable categories. Newly-constructed
houses have more amenities such as toilets and separate kitchens. Most
of the houses conform to the approved plans. However, there is inadequate
awareness of the house being jointly owned by husband and wife. There
is substantial increase in the awareness of housing insurance, especially
those, whose houses had to be reconstructed. Almost all the houses are
built to earthquake-resistant standards.
The second survey recommends:
(i) Efforts to improve awareness on joint ownership of the newly-

constructed houses and a review of the process of property
registration;
(ii) improving awareness of insurance among those whose houses
were of categories G1 to G4 and those in rural areas, bridging the
gap between awareness and knowledge to claim insurance and
access to insurance for those who want to insure their houses;
and
(iii) more effective communication on the future benefits of the town
planning schemes to the beneficiaries in the towns of Bhuj,
Bhachau and Anjar.
191
IX An Appraisal
T he Kutch earthquake of 26 January 2001 was one of the worst natural

disasters to strike Gujarat. The earthquake was most devastating in
terms of its magnitude and intensity. It posed enormous challenges because
of its magnitude and geographical spread for rescue, relief and rehabilitation.
Indeed, it appeared, at least during the first few hours, to be overwhelming
to the government and the society. Yet, they faced the challenge with
courage and conviction. Rescue and relief activities were organized within
the shortest possible time. What is remarkable is that a comprehensive
rehabilitation and reconstruction programme was put in place at the earliest.
An adversity was transformed into an opportunity.
The Devastation: A Glimpse

Overall, 7,633 villages in 21 (out of 25) districts of Gujarat were
affected to varying degrees. The districts most affected were Kutch,
Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Patan and Ahmedabad. About 40 per
cent of the states population was affected. The number of human lives
lost was 13,805. About 1,67,000 persons were injured. Over a million
houses were damaged or destroyed. About 10,000 small and medium
industrial units went out of production, affecting income and employment.
Thousands of artisans lost their livelihood. It was a calamity of rare severity.
The impact on infrastructure was devastating. The power system,
water supply and telecommunication were severely disrupted. About 442
villages were flattened, four towns of Kutch were in ruins and a number
of high-rise and low-rise buildings collapsed in Ahmedabad and other
towns. About 53,000 schoolrooms and 5,000 structures providing health
and child/women welfare facilities were damaged or destroyed. The civil
192
An Appraisal
hospital at Bhujthe most important government hospital in the district

collapsed, resulting in the death of patients, their relatives and medical
personnel. The district administration of Kutch was traumatized because
many of their employees lost their lives, homes and relatives. Personnel of
the armed forces, especially the Air Force, had a similar predicament.
The task of damage assessment was equally complex. Thousands of
people were affected. Hundreds of villages and towns were involved.
Different types of houses and other premises had to be surveyed.
Gujarat is one of the Indias richer states. However, the area affected
by the earthquake included a significant proportion of population that is
poor. The district of Kutch and the affected areas of Jamnagar, Rajkot,
Surendranagar and Patan are resource-poor and arid regions. These areas
are vulnerable to several hazards such as earthquake, cyclone and drought.
The earthquake was followed by two consecutive years of drought in
1999 and 2000. Indeed, Gujarat suffered five major disasters in four years:
cyclones of 1998 and 1999, droughts in 1999 and 2000 and the earthquake
of 2001.
The complexity and enormity of the task before the administration
during the few days and weeks after the earthquake were unimaginable. It
may be easy to comment, with the wisdom of hindsight, that certain
things should have been done and that there was delay in certain measures.
Much depends on the ground realities. It may not always be feasible when
the impact is so severe, widespread and complicated, to have a system
which triggers automatic action at all places. The fact, however, remains
that there is a need to improve upon the existing arrangements, systems
and procedures.
The severity and spread of damage and destruction could overwhelm
any system. As mentioned earlier, the area affected was larger than the
area of many states and even countries. Many government employees and
officials were traumatized because of the death and injury of near and
dear ones. The communication system broke down. Even the telephone
lines between Gandhinagar, the state capital and Ahmedabad stopped
functioning for the first few days. Therefore, it took some time for the
state machinery to mobilize all the available resources. Similar situations
arose in the past in Kobe, Turkey and many other places.
193
A few months earlier there had been tremors in Bhavnagar.

Consequently, there was some awareness of the implications of earthquake.
Some dos and donts were available with the Revenue Department and
some of the districts including Bhavnagar. Yet, the severity of the disaster
was beyond anybodys imagination. Detailed contingency plans particularly
focusing on earthquakes were not available, especially in the affected
districts.
Narrow streets caused enormous problems for rescue operations
because vehicles could not move in the affected areas. No doubt local
people, police and armed forces tried their best and rescued many people
who had been trapped. But the fact remains that modern rescue equipment
and manpower trained specially for earthquake-related rescue were not
available. In the absence of a systematic inventory of equipment and
resources, it took some time to mobilize them.
The above aspects provide important lessons for the future. Many
steps have already been taken based on this experience.
Some Important Lessons and Initiatives

Many lessons were learnt in the context of the earthquake relief and
reconstruction efforts. Gujarat has prior experience in handling disasters.
Structures and systems, evolved over the years, have facilitated quick
response and effective recovery. Similarly, at the national level there are
mechanisms to support states at the time of major disasters. However,
with the recent experiences, it was realized that there was a need to further
improve the existing systems and procedures. Some of the lessons learnt
are enumerated below:
" The field-level administration has varied experiences of carrying out

search and rescue operations, especially in the event of disasters such
as a flood. However, there is a lack of capability for specialized search
and rescue as was seen during the Gujarat earthquake. It is necessary
to upgrade search and rescue capability immediately. This means
procuring modern equipment, identifying full-time and part-time
personnel and providing training to search and rescue teams.
194
An Appraisal
" For areas which are prone to earthquakes, the installation of seismic
instruments needs to be reviewed. A system of continuous monitoring
should be put in place. A similar approach is needed to improve the
flood and cyclone forecasts and early warning systems.
" It is necessary to review the disaster management plans already
prepared with a view to updating and improving upon the existing
documents. There are disaster management plans at district and taluka
levels. In some cases, there are such plans for even village panchayats.
Most of these were earlier meant for flood and monsoon seasons. In
recent times there is a focus on cyclones in respect of vulnerable
districts. District-level plans need to be reviewed keeping in view the
recent experiences.
" It is necessary to prepare plans that will work at the time of an
emergency. Disaster management plans for talukas, cities and districts
should have clarity in terms of a command and control system. It
may be useful to have separate parts of an overall plan addressing risk
assessment and vulnerability analysis, response systems and inventory
of resources.
" There are district level plans prepared in the context of environmental
protection laws for chemical and industrial disasters. The subject is
handled by the Labour Department in Gujarat. It is necessary to have
a fresh look at such plans and ensure their compatibility with district
disaster management systems.
" Each district located in areas prone to disasters should maintain an
on-line inventory of resources available with the government, public
sector and private sector. This will enable easy and quick mobilization
of resources. A statewide on-line resource inventory would enable
the mobilization of resources from neighbouring districts in the event
of a disaster.
" The role of police, paramilitary and armed forces may be defined and
clearly outlined in the disaster management plans. Organizations such
as the State Reserve Police, the RAF, Central Industrial Security Force,
Civil Defence, Gram Rakshak Dal and Home Guards should be integrated
with the disaster management system, particularly with response plans.
195
" In the event of natural disasters, particularly in the Saurashtra and

Kutch areas, it becomes necessary to mobilize equipment, tents, and
boats etc., within a short time. It is worthwhile to stock such items
for crisis situations. One may consider having warehouses at three or
four locations such as Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Surat.
" Control rooms need to be upgraded particularly at the district and
taluka levels. Personnel handling disaster management activities should
have continuity and a high level of motivation. They should feel that
they are performing important tasks.
" Training is extremely important. It is necessary to arrange training in
a systematic way so that most of the employees and other stakeholders
are exposed to the latest ideas and technologies in disaster management.
At present, the SPIPA organizes training programmes but the
participation is not satisfactory. Different government departments,
public sector organizations and NGOs should ensure effective
participation of their personnel in training programmes.Specialized
training facilities for emergency medical management and search and
rescue capability should be developed.
" In Gujarat, the subject of disaster management is handled by the
Revenue Department at the state level, Collectors/DDOs at the district
level and Mamlatdars/Taluka Development Officers at the taluka level.
Other departments such as Roads and Buildings, Health, Agriculture,
Water Supply and Urban Development, participate in disaster
management activities. However, except for a few officers such as
the Commissioner of Relief and Director of Relief, there are no officers
dedicated to the subject of disaster management. Further, there is no
special focus on disaster management. It is necessary to clearly define
the arrangements for disaster mitigation and management in different
departments. It may not be feasible to have personnel exclusively for
this purpose; officers dealing with other subjects may be identified
and given orientation for the purpose.
" Utilizing the services of retired personnel of armed forces and even
retired police personnel in disaster management efforts may be
considered. For this purpose, there should be a systematic approach
of having a database, providing orientation from time to time and
196
An Appraisal
deploying them quickly at the time of disaster.

" Youth organizations such as the National Service Scheme, National
Cadet Corps and the Nehru Yuvak Kendra can play useful roles at the
time of a disaster. They have valuable human resources and skill.
" Special focus should be on fire services with various agencies such
as municipal corporations, the GEB and the private sector. The
Government of India has suggested to the state governments that fire
services need to be trained and equipped to function as all-hazard
response units as in many other countries. This will necessitate some
additional equipment and training to the fire units for carrying out
search and rescue at the time of disasters. The Government of India
has initiated measures to prepare a separate project for this purpose.
" Media management is extremely important. Developed countries have
systematic arrangements for this purpose. This aspect should be
considered while designing an operations centre and preparing disaster
management plans.
" In Gujarat, effective steps have been taken to include seismic
engineering in the syllabus of graduate courses and also that of
polytechnics. For this purpose, training programmes for teachers of
engineering colleges have been prepared and organized. It is, however,
necessary to continue this on a more sustainable basis. Very often the
institutions concerned and the related departments do not take adequate
interest in continuing such activities. It is absolutely essential that
they should be given proper and adequate attention.
" It is also necessary to continue the training of engineers and even
masons through regular programmes on a sustainable basis. Unless
this is done, it will be difficult to ensure the availability of skilled
personnel for construction that conforms to disaster-resistant
standards.
" Insurance schemes and other measures for disaster mitigation should
be expanded and operated more comprehensively.
" In the past, not much attention was given to developing community
awareness, capability and preparedness. Efforts will have to be directed
to augment community preparedness and capability.
197
" It has been realized, that at the national and state levels it is essential to
have a legal framework for disaster management. Gujarat is the first
state in India to have enacted such a legislation. It is necessary to
ensure that various provisions of the act are implemented by all the
stakeholders.
" Disaster mitigation aspects should be incorporated in development
plans and schemes for the areas vulnerable to disasters. In other words,
every project should indicate how to address mitigation aspects. Plans
or projects especially for mitigation/prevention of disasters may be
given priority.
" Funds available under the ongoing schemes may be used for mitigation
and preparedness activities. For example, funds under the rural
development schemes can be used for construction of cyclone shelters
in areas which are prone to cyclones. Similarly, sites and designs of
primary school buildings in flood-prone areas may be selected in such
a manner that they can serve as shelters at the time of flood. The
design requirement for primary school buildings and hospitals and
other important buildings in seismic zones IV and V should conform
to the relevant building codes.
In the context of The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, a document

prepared in 2003 by the Hyogo Prefectural Government enumerates a
number of important lessons learnt:
" Many senior functionaries themselves were affected by the earthquake.

Consequently, only five out of 21 members could attend the first
emergency meeting immediately after the earthquake.
" Due to the breakdown of communication, there was difficulty in
comprehending, for quite some time, the extent of damage.
" Due to the lack of communication, it took a longer time to organize
administrative officers, fire stations, police stations and medical
organizations.
" Many people who were trapped in damaged structures were rescued
by their families and neighbours, which highlighted the role of
community preparedness.
198
An Appraisal
" It was realized that modern cities are disaster prone and there is a
need to make them disaster resistant.
" There is a need to establish a disaster management centre and control
rooms.
" It was also found necessary to upgrade the immediate response
system.
As mentioned earlier, many initiatives were taken by the Government

of Gujarat. The Government of India also took a number of initiatives as
follows:
Even prior to the Kutch earthquake, it considered the transfer of the
subject of disaster management from the Ministry of Agriculture to the
Ministry of Home Affairs. This was debated for quite some time. The
Kutch earthquake possibly provided a new sense of urgency. The subject
of disaster management was transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs
which was at that time headed by the Deputy Prime Minister of India. The
Ministry of Home Affairs took a number of initiatives relating to prevention
and mitigation in addition to upgrading of the emergency response system.
A DRM programme was introduced by the Government of India in
collaboration with the UNDP. It was envisaged to cover 17 states in India.
In each state, vulnerable talukas and villages have been identified. The
objective is to put in place a comprehensive multi-disaster-based
programme of community preparedness and capacity building. It also
aims at the preparation of disaster management plans at the district, sub-
district and village levels. Some details of this programme in respect of
Gujarat were described earlier.
Another initiative by the Government of India focuses on vulnerable
cities. A programme known as the Urban Earthquake Vulnerability
Reduction Programme was introduced as a part of the DRM programme.
The idea is to strengthen the earthquake preparedness of 38 earthquake-
prone cities in India with a population of more than 500,000 and located in
seismic zones III, IV and V. These 38 cities are located in 20 states. A
conference of representatives of those cities was organized in Gujarat in
July 2002 for the purpose of launching the programme. The lessons learnt
199
from the Gujarat experience were discussed in detail and the delegates
exchanged ideas.
The Government of India has also taken initiatives for revising the
syllabi of engineering colleges in various parts of India, including disaster
management in the syllabi of schools, and training of teachers of engineering
colleges through the IITs. There have been important initiatives in
upgrading the search and rescue capability. A.S. Arya, who functioned as
Seismic Adviser to the GSDMA, has recently joined as an adviser to the
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The Government of India
has made commendable efforts to replicate in other states some of the
measures introduced in Gujarat.
A Remarkable Reconstruction Programme and its Performance

In terms of number and magnitude, the performance in respect of
activities such as housing, repair/reconstruction of classrooms, restoration
of physical and social infrastructure and livelihood regeneration, is
impressive. The progress of rehabilitation work has been remarkable even
though the programme has a vast scope and is very comprehensive. It is
not limited to the reconstruction of physical assets. There is a focus on
enabling the earthquake victims to earn their livelihood. There are important
initiatives to enhance capability for disaster management. Considering the
complexity of the task, the progress made in three years has perhaps no
parallel elsewhere. In fact, the progress has been rapid right from the first
year and has continued to be so, as one can see from the achievements
during each of the first three years.
The spectacular achievement in respect of reconstruction and repair
of houses has been widely acclaimed. Reconstruction efforts, through an
owner-driven approach and supplemented by the efforts of NGOs, of
about 187,000 houses in three years, has no parallel anywhere. The repair
of 925,344 houses was completed quickly. However, the quality of repair
could pose both financial and technical problems. Prior to the earthquake
there was hardly any awareness about earthquake-resistant construction
and retrofitting. There was, and still is, a dearth of skilled human resources.
Hence, it is unrealistic to expect that all these buildings would be retrofitted.
200
An Appraisal
201
Pramod K. Mishra receiving the Sasakawa Award Certificate of Merit, on behalf of GSDMA, in Bonn, Germany
What was, however, ensured was that they were repaired and strengthened
to the extent feasible.
The Government of Gujarat and the GSDMA initiated right from the
beginning, many activities relating to capacity building, information
dissemination, community awareness and community preparedness. This
alone has distinguished it from similar programmes elsewhere. In most
other cases, such activities were initiated at a later stage. Another significant
aspect is the induction of reputed institutions and individuals who have
expertise and specialized knowledge.
No doubt, the GSDMA had the benefit of drawing upon the
experiences of the Maharashtra reconstruction programme and that of
the UN experts and multilateral agencies. The fact, however, remains that
the GSDMA had the commitment, willingness and ability to quickly
internalize ideas derived from others, adapt them to the Gujarat situation
and commence a variety of activities with an innovative approach.
There have been effective and decisive steps in institutionalizing disaster
management through a legal framework, regulatory reforms, training and
a knowledge network. A Disaster Management Policy and a Disaster
Management Act were finalized at an early stage. Studies on aspects such
as microzonation, hazard and vulnerability analysis, damage and loss
assessment methodology, early warning and emergency communication,
were initiated. Efforts were made to address issues relating to building
codes, development control regulation and hazard resistant construction.
Engineers and masons were trained in large numbers. Revision of syllabi
and training of teachers of technical institutions were undertaken to ensure
the availability of skill and quality on a sustainable basis. A mechanism for
screening of competent engineers and masons is envisaged through
certification and licensing.
Peoples participation, community preparedness and partnership with
NGOs are important aspects of this unique reconstruction programme.
People have been associated right from the beginning and at all stages.
There have been concerted, comprehensive and intensive efforts towards
community awareness and preparedness.
202
An Appraisal
Some International Experiences and Comparisons

It is worthwhile to have a comparitive review of some of the recent
earthquake reconstruction programmes in a few countries.
Sharing post-earthquake reconstruction experiences8

On 30 September 2003, the GSDMA, in association with the UNCRD
organized an international workshop on Post Earthquake Reconstruction
Experiences at Gandhidham in the district of Kutch. The idea was to
share experiences on post-earthquake reconstruction in different countries.
Experts from Algeria, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and India shared their
experiences in the workshop. Multilateral agencies such as the WB and
the ADB also participated. It is worthwhile to mention some important
aspects brought out during the workshop.
Algeria
Djillai Benouar, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Bab Ezzouar

(USTHB), Algeria described the experiences of the Algiers-Boumerdes
earthquake (Mw 6.8) of 21 May 2003. This earthquake caused the death
of 2,278 persons, injury to 11,450 others and rendered 200,000 people
homeless; in addition, 128,000 houses were destroyed or damaged.
Algeria has a damage assessment methodology of five levels from
Green 1 (no damage) to Red 5 (total collapse or to be demolished) based
on the extent of damage. This is similar to the approach based on G-1 to
G-5 categories followed in the case of Latur and Bhuj earthquakes.
In earlier earthquakes, Algeria had faced problems of false claims. A
few individuals damaged their houses after the earthquake in order to be
eligible to receive compensation; some people from outside came to the
campsites and asked for compensation. To prevent such misuse in the
context of the 2003 earthquake, the engineers in charge of damage
assessment were required to report directly to the provincial authorities
instead of the local ones. The managers of camps were under direct control
of the Ministry of Interior. Assistance for buildings of the Red 5 category
was up to US $ 12,000, along with a low-interest bank loan and up to US
8
The following description of country experiences has derived significantly from Seth
(2003) and EERI (1999).
203
204
International workshop on earthquake reconstruction experience at Gandhidham

An Appraisal
$ 2,200 for the Green 2 category. This was in line of those in the context
of the Bhuj earthquake, in view of the cost of building at US $ 180 per sq.
mt in Algeria.
It was stipulated after the earthquake that retrofitting should be carried
out as per the new seismic code. However, it was not feasible to implement
the new code for buildings that were to be repaired for minor and moderate
damages. In case of houses with major damage and those which were
reconstructed, efforts were made to enforce the codes through
government-appointed contractors with supervision by the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Planning.
The rehabilitation programme tried to focus on livelihood, medical
rehabilitation and social rehabilitation. Measures were also taken in respect
of capacity building such as training of engineers and introduction of
seismic engineering in graduate courses and also introducing insurance as
a form of mitigation.
Turkey
Polat Gulkan, Director for Disaster Management Implementation and

Research Centre, Middle East Technical University, Turkey, described
Turkeys experience. Turkey has a high seismic risk. It suffered devastating
earthquakes on 17 August 1999, in Kocaeli, and on 12 November 1999, in
Bolu with magnitudes respectively of M7.4 and M7.2. Over 17,000 people
lost their lives and 600,000 people became homeless.
Initially, 45,000 temporary houses were constructed for the affected
people. Those who did not opt for temporary housing were given US $
175 for a year so that they could rent houses on their own.
The earthquake brought into focus the usual deficiencies: faulty
construction practices, faulty designs, lack of land use plan supervision
and so on.
The Government of Turkey introduced, with funding from the WB
and other sources, the Marmara Earthquake Emergency Reconstruction
project which included components relating to disaster response and
mitigation. It incorporated aspects such as an emergency response system,
disaster insurance scheme, enforcement of construction codes, and land
205
use planning. Houses in rural areas were to be constructed by owners

based on the approved plans and under the supervision of independent
consultants, whereas urban houses were to be constructed under the
supervision of municipal engineers.
There was substantial use of the tunnel form system of construction
to build high-rise buildings quickly. Such buildings had performed very
well in earlier earthquakes. The level of satisfaction of the affected people
in respect of the houses built by the government was high. Efforts were
made to introduce a system of licensing of engineers and architects, which
did not materialize.
The Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool was established in order to
provide insurance coverage for houses.
Taiwan
Yuh-Chyurn Ding, Deputy Executive Director of the 921 Earthquake
Post-Disaster Recovery Commission, discussed the 1999 earthquake,
known as the Chi-Chi earthquake (M7.3), that had resulted in the collapse
of 38,935 houses and damage to 45,320 houses, in which 2,455 people
lost their lives and 11,305 were injured. The earthquake affected both
urban and rural areas.
The government enacted the Temporary Statute for 921 Earthquake
Reconstruction for providing a legal framework for the reconstruction
work. A new organization, the 921 Earthquake Post-Recovery Commission,
was set up. A comprehensive reconstruction programme incorporating
roads and bridges, public buildings, educational and health infrastructure,
industrial reconstruction and environmental protection measures was
introduced. Unlike in Turkey, the Government of Taiwan does not undertake
reconstruction of new houses for the affected people; it provides some
temporary houses and financial assistance towards house rent after an
earthquake. In the Chi-Chi earthquake, assistance (called a consolation
allowance) was given in 32,604 cases. For reconstruction of houses by
the affected persons, the government facilitates the availability of loans
from financial institutions. However, for a few special categories such as
indigenous tribes and disadvantaged people, some low-cost housing projects
were undertaken through government and community efforts.
206
An Appraisal
As of August 2003, about 70 per cent of the collapsed houses had

been reconstructed. The reasons for delay were: problems of joint
ownership of property, lack of finance to rebuild, inability to get loans,
local issues relating to land, inadequacy of technical personnel, etc.
Reconstruction of condominium houses involved complex issues and
problems.
Taiwan officials feel that their reconstruction programme compares
favourably with that of the Kobe earthquake.
Japan
Masahiko Murata, Project Manager of the Disaster Reduction and

Human Renovation Institute, Kobe, narrated the experience of the Kobe
earthquake of 17 January 1995. The earthquake caused the death of 6,401
people and enormous damage and destruction to houses and infrastructure.
About 248,000 houses were completely or partially destroyed. The
immediate aftermath of the earthquake was chaotic and it took three days
for the country to fully grasp the enormity of the devastation.
About 48,300 temporary houses were constructed immediately after
the earthquake. Gas and water supply was restored in three months.
However, it took five years after the earthquake to reconstruct permanent
houses for all the affected families.
Disaster management cells and information collection centres at national
and local levels were established to ensure better post-disaster management
in the future. The earthquake brought into focus the need for a well-
planned and coordinated system, comprising local authorities and national
agencies in view of the fact that such disasters are often too difficult for
local governments to cope with independently. It also highlighted the
important role of local communities and volunteers, who were the main
providers of relief in the initial days and prior to the arrival of rescue
teams from outside. Training of such communities is very crucial to a
system of disaster management. The earthquake also revealed the
vulnerability of senior citizens.
The Government of Japan introduced the Seismic Building Retrofitting
Act to encourage the retrofitting of existing vulnerable buildings with the
207
provision of two-thirds of the diagnosis cost and up to 15 per cent of the

retrofitting cost to be borne by the local government. However, this
programme was not very popular as a major part of the cost of retrofitting
was to be borne by the owners.
The Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Museum, Kobe, was
built as a memorial of the great earthquake and displays very interesting
materials relating to it.
California, USA
Marjorie Greene, from the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute,

California, discussed the approach to reconstruction in the USA,
particularly in California. Earthquakes are frequent in this state.
In the USA, the emphasis is more on earthquake mitigation and less
on post-earthquake reconstruction. Unlike in India, Turkey and Algeria,
the US government does not provide financial assistance for reconstruction
though some assistance for rent and mortgage is given. Government
assistance is targeted more at replacing government services and facilities.
Homeowners are expected to buy insurance for their homes. However,
over the years, it has been observed that people are unwilling to opt for
such insurance because of the perception that buying an earthquake
insurance policy does not seem to be worth the cost; thus only one in
eight insured homes is covered by such insurance.
Most disaster management programmes are operated under the
guidelines issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The general policy of FEMA is to assist in the immediate aftermath, rather
than in rebuilding. There is also an emphasis on disaster mitigation.
The recent policy of post-earthquake management and reconstruction
has not been put to a major test, as the recent earthquakes in California
have not resulted in a significant number of people being homeless. It is
yet to be seen if this policy would be adequate in the event of a major
earthquake causing widespread damage and destruction.
Large programmes of retrofitting are undertaken for public buildings,
monuments and infrastructure facilities such as bridges, lifeline structures,
hospitals and court buildings.
208
An Appraisal
India
S.S. Momin, Secretary, Department of Roads and Buildings,

Government of Maharashtra, discussed the Latur rehabilitation and
reconstruction experience. Incidentally, the workshop coincided with the
tenth anniversary of the Latur earthquake.
The Latur earthquake of 30 September 1993, caused the death of
7,601 persons; about 16,000 persons were injured and over a million
became homeless. Sixty-seven villages were completely destroyed and
there was extensive damage in another 1,300 villages in Latur and
Osmanabad districts. There were 11 other districts in Maharashtra that
suffered considerable damage to private and public property. The
Government of Maharashtra, with the assistance of the WB, introduced
the Maharashtra Emergency Earthquake Rehabilitation Project. It involved
the relocation of 52 completely devastated villages and complete
reconstruction of another 22 severely damaged villages. In addition, there
was in-situ reconstruction and repair/strengthening of dwellings in over
2,400 affected villages. The project components included housing,
infrastructure, economic rehabilitation, social rehabilitation, training and
development of disaster management plans.
A study (EERI, 1999) by the Earthquake Engineering Research
Institute, California draws, inter alia, the following lessons from the Latur
experience:
" There were issues relating to damage assessment. In spite of three

rounds of damage assessment, there was dissatisfaction among the
affected people. One reason was that a large number of technical and
other staff had to be deployed. It was not feasible to provide uniform
damage assessment forms, training and orientation. Similar problems,
though to a lesser extent, arose in the context of the Bhuj earthquake.
" A number of villages were relocated. The Government of Maharashtra
took responsibility to undertake the construction work and accomplish
it within a very limited time frame; it was felt that it would be easier
for the government to manage the construction process with a small
number of contractors than by a large number of individual homeowners.
Some NGOs also participated in this work. Experience, however,
209
showed that the affected people did not feel involved in rebuilding
their homes, particularly in the relocation villages because the
government initiated and managed the programme. In villages with
in-situ reconstruction that was a part of the repair and strengthening
programme, the work was owner driven and beneficiaries played a
more active role.
" At the relocation villages, there was some problem of drinking water.
There were also issues relating to quality of construction and suitability
of design to peoples life and practices. Inadequate participation
resulted in inadequate transfer of earthquake resistant construction
technology to the villages.
There are similarities in the reconstruction programmes in the context

of the Latur and Kutch earthquakes. In fact, the Kutch reconstruction
programme derived considerably from the experience of the Latur
programme and expanded and intensified efforts in respect of capacity
building and long-term disaster management aspects.
To summarize, the above experiences bring out interesting aspects.
In developed countries, there is limited assistance from the government to
individuals for rebuilding their houses and other assets; more responsibility
devolves on the people themselves. In countries such as Japan, Taiwan
and the USA, there is greater reliance on individual efforts and resource
commitment for reconstruction. Government resources are directed at
restoring and rebuilding public services and infrastructure. In developing
countries such as Algeria, Turkey and India, the state plays a more
comprehensive role and allocates more resources for rehabilitation of the
affected people.
Developed countries focus more on mitigation and long-term aspects
such as retrofitting of public buildings, essential facilities and capacity
building. In developing countries, more resources are deployed in the
relief and rehabilitation phase and much less on mitigation.
In most countries, there is tremendous emphasis on capacity building,
disaster management plans, etc., immediately after a disaster. However,
such focus and interest diminish as time passes.
210
An Appraisal
Some international comparisons

Tables 36 and 37 indicate important features of some recent earthquakes.9
Table 36: Magnitude, death toll and economic loss in the

context of some recent earthquakes in different countries
Earthquake Date Magnitude Death toll Economic loss
(US $)
Kutch, Gujarat, India 26 January 2001 7.7 Mw 13,805 6 billion
Chi-Chi, Taiwan 21 September 1999 7.3 Mw 2,455 12 billion
Marmara, Turkey 17 August 1999 7.4 Mw 17,000 6 billion
El Quindio, Colombia 25 January 1999 6.2 M 1,185 1.6 billion
Hanshin-Awaji, Kobe,
Japan 17 January 1995 7.3 Mw 6,401 84.4 billion
Latur, Maharashtra,
India. 30 September 1993 6.3 Mw 7,601 300 million
Mexico City, Mexico 19 September 1985 8.1 M 4,000 4 to 5 billion
(for housing)
Table 37: Reconstruction strategy in the context of recent

earthquakes in some countries
Earthquake No. of houses/household Approach to Organization
units collapsed/damaged reconstruction
and to be reconstructed/ of houses
repaired
Kutch, Gujarat, 1,143,624 Owner driven and in-situ; GSDMA

India minimum relocation;
NGOs in some cases
Chi-chi, Taiwan 74,255 Temporary houses and 921Earthquake

for some special categories Post-Disaster
permanent houses Recovery
(through government and Commission
private contractors)
Marmara, Turkey 43,850 In-situ and relocation Project

(through private sector Implementation
contractors) Unit (Prime
Ministers Off.)
Contd
9
Some of the details are from a paper entitled Reconstruction Programmes: International
Case Studies by Krishna S. Vatsa, a Ph.D candidate at the George Washington University, USA.
211
Contd
Hanshin-Awaji, 448,929 Large-scale temporary Kobe City and
Kobe, Japan. housing through local
contractors. government
El Quindio, Colombia 80,000 Relocation and in-situ Fondo Re-

repairs (NGOs and desl Eje
private sector Cafetero
contractors)
Latur, Maharashtra, 220,000 Relocation and in-situ Project

India repair (contractors for Management
relocation and owner- Unit
driven for in-situ repair)
Mexico City, Mexico 72,000 In-situ reconstruction Low-income

through 260 local housing
engineering firms reconstruction
Programme
The earthquakes of Marmara, Mexico City, Colombia and Kobe affected

mostly urban areas. The Chi-Chi earthquake affected both urban and rural
areas. The Latur earthquake affected rural areas. The Kutch earthquake
affected both urban and rural areas.
The death toll depends on the nature of settlementurban or rural
and the time of the earthquake. The number of people who died because
of the Kutch earthquake could have been much higher had it occurred at
night or early in the morning, for example, at the time when the Hanshin-
Awaji earthquake occurred.
In case of the Kutch earthquake, the number of houses being
reconstructed and repaired is large because the impact was widespread.
One may argue that the houses in rural areas are smaller and easy to
construct compared to urban areas. However, because of the geographical
spread there can be complex problems of implementation. As already
explained in detail earlier, the strategy of reconstruction of houses has
been an ownern-driven approach, supplemented by NGOs for about 20
per cent of the houses reconstructed. The Kutch earthquake reconstruction
programme is possibly the first such programme in a developing country,
to follow an owner-driven approach to reconstruction, which has been
very successfully implemented both in terms of number and quality.
212
An Appraisal
The following comparison is significant:

" 48,300 houses in Kobe, Japan, took six years.
" 72,000 houses in Mexico took five years.
" 43,000 houses in Turkey took four years.
" 80,000 houses in Colombia took three years.
" 38,935 houses in Taiwan took more than four years.
" Repair and reconstruction of 180,000 and 37,000 houses respectively
in Latur, Maharashtra took six years.
" In Gujarat 143,000 houses were reconstructed and 892,000 houses
repaired in two years.
There has been WB funding in a number of earthquake reconstruction
programmes in recent times. In most cases, it took about a year for the
borrower to prepare the project, negotiate and get the loan sanctioned.
Only in the cases of Turkey and Gujarat was it possible to finalize the WB
loan (as well as the ADB loan for Gujarat) in less than three months. In
most cases, the reconstruction programme has taken four to five years,
or even longer.
For most of the reconstruction programmes, a new organizational
structure was set up to implement the project. This was with a view to
having a special focus on the programme and providing autonomy and
flexibility to the organization.
In most other programmes, reconstruction has mostly been through
private sector contractors, and in some cases through the public sector,
though repair has been owner-driven in many cases. Even in cases where
NGOs have undertaken reconstruction of houses, they have engaged private
contractors. In the case of Latur, where reconstruction mostly involved
relocation, it was done through contractors even though repair and
strengthening work was done by the owners themselves. A distinguishing
feature of the Kutch earthquake reconstruction programme is that it is
mostly owner-driven with some participation of NGOs. This is a milestone
in the context of large-scale reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes
in the world. Another aspect of the programme is that there was negligible
relocation. Furthermore, there were extensive consultations with the people
and the approach was participatory at all stages of the programme.
213
Role of the GSDMA

The GSDMA was created in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.
Right from the beginning it focused not only on the rehabilitation and
reconstruction work but also on medium-term and long-term measures
for disaster mitigation and preparedness. The creation of the GSDMA
was the beginning of a new era. A new institutional structure emerged.
Measures were initiated to create a disaster management framework for
the state by devising appropriate policies, programmes, methodologies
and legislation. The GSDMA has successfully undertaken multifarious
activities in the following broad areas:
" Earthquake reconstruction work

" Formulation of policies and legislation
" Preparation of disaster management plans
" Preparedness initiatives
" Capacity building
" Mitigation measures, and
" Awareness and community preparedness.
As the nodal agency, the GSDMA strives to establish links with the
Government of India, state government departments, local authorities,
NGOs, research agencies, public and private sectors, and other
stakeholders. This is in order to share knowledge, establish coordination
mechanism and to create capacity. Strategy planning is done by the GSDMA
and implemented in collaboration with other departments and agencies.
With the Gujarat State Disaster Management Act, 2003, coming into
force, the GSDMA has statutory status. Its functions have been
enumerated in the Act.
In the context of the earthquake, an elaborate administrative structure
was put in place. It may, however, be noted that the GSDMA is at the
core of the new organizational structure. It functions with a lean core
staff consisting of seven senior officers, 10 middle-level officers, five
MBAs and some support staff. It functions with tremendous dedication,
commitment and professionalism.
214
An Appraisal
The issue of transferring the activities of the Revenue Department in

the context of disaster management to the GSDMA was extensively
discussed. In order not to create a parallel organization and with a view to
ensuring effectiveness, it was decided that the Revenue Department should
continue to remain in-charge of emergency response and relief as one of
the line departments. The GSDMA would function as the coordinating
and monitoring organization. In fact, all the district collectors are designated
as ex-officio Joint Chief Executive Officers of the GSDMA. This is with
a view to ensuring organizational inter-linkages essential for the complex
disaster response system to function. In fact, for the first three years, the
Commissioner of Relief in the Revenue Department also functioned as an
Additional CEO of the GSDMA.
The GSDMA continues to remain a lean and efficient organization
and to have an officer-oriented approach. It was able to resist pressures
to create a larger organization. The personnel were carefully selected and
have a high level of commitment and dedication. It has a flexible and task-
oriented system. To accomplish the reconstruction work, it successfully
utilized the existing departments, organization and personnel. The
Government of Gujarat gave the GSDMA the flexibility to operate in a
professional way. At the same time, there were linkages with the state
government.
Since the Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chairman of the governing
body, which consists of a few senior ministers and senior officers, this
ensured commitment of the state government at the highest level.
A question is often asked as to how the GSDMA could achieve so
much in such a short time. Three factorspolitical commitment, structural
and operational flexibility, and extremely committed and dedicated
personnelpossibly contributed to this spectacular success. Though there
were many changes of officers at taluka, district and regional levels
and of a few officers at the GSDMAfive or six senior officers of the
GSDMA had continuity of tenure. Interestingly, most of them including
the Chief Executive Officer had additional duties or assignments in addition
to that at the GSDMA. This can be looked at in two ways. One can argue
that such an arrangement leads to inadequate focus on the programme,
less attention and problems of sustainability. In fact, some multilateral
215
organizations questioned this arrangement. Some even questioned why it

could not have one full-time officer instead of two part-time officers. On
the other hand, it can be argued that because of such flexibility it was
possible to deploy competent and dedicated officers for a relatively long
duration, simultaneously making use of their valuable services in other
key assignments. Another aspect, though not consistent with conventional
wisdom, is important. Senior officers of the GSDMA holding other key
positions in the government could operate more effectively and achieve
the tasks relating to the GSDMA through better coordinationboth personal
and functionalbecause of organizational inter-linkages. This phenomenon
emerges from our administrative culture and ethos, which probably can
be an interesting subject of study in organizational behaviour.
Relevance of the GSDMA to other states
As mentioned earlier, the GSDMA received national and international

acclaim for its outstanding work. In many seminars and workshops,
experts recommend the GSDMA model to different states of India and
even to other countries. Indeed, the Government of India has
advised states to set up organizations like the GSDMA for disaster
management.
The organizational structure of the GSDMA evolved almost organically
since its inception. In a sense, the process of evolution was a response to
various requirements and demand from different stakeholders and was
conditioned by the emergent situation at that time.
An international consultant carried out a study to suggest an
organizational structure and to prepare a business implementation plan. In
order to design an organizational structure, it kept in view some evaluation
criteria: mitigation focus, continuity and permanence, involvement and
participation, autonomy and independence, single-point accountability,
flexibility and adaptability and multi-disciplinary approach and
implementability.
Prior to suggesting an organizational structure for the GSDMA, the
consultant considered the following organizational models:
216
An Appraisal
Model 1: A Think-tank
In this model, the disaster management authority (DMA) is basically
a committee or a think-tank that helps in the formulation of a
comprehensive disaster management plan. It reviews existing procedures
and recommends guidelines, policies and laws. However, it does not get
involved in any work of implementation and even of supervision. The
prevailing system of disaster management at the centre was similar to this
model. There were committees such as the NCMC and the High Power
Committee.
Model 2: Disaster Management Department

A nodal authority is set up for the purpose of disaster management
within the state administration, either through an existing or a new
department. The department takes responsibility of mitigation, relief and
reconstruction. The department reviews existing procedures, formulates
new policies, recommends guidelines and is also responsible for programme
management and monitoring. An example is the arrangement in
Maharashtra. There are similar systems in countries such as South Africa
and Bangladesh.
Model 3: Disaster Management Task Force

It envisages the creation of a nodal organization that is independent
and autonomous in its operations. Even though it has the support of the
government, it is independent in its day-to-day functioning. The model
can be illustrated by organizations such as the National Human Rights
Commission, the Election Commission of India and the Central Bureau of
Investigation.
Model 4: Disaster Management Agency
This is an autonomous and independent nodal agency that is fully
accountable and has significant responsibility for disaster management.
The difference from the earlier model is in the extent of its involvement in
all phases of disaster management. It is also autonomous. There is a large
217
permanent staff associated with mitigation, emergency response and

reconstruction activities. It has field-level units. An example is the FEMA
in the USA.
The consultant examined the strengths and weaknesses of various
models. A hybrid model was recommended that incorporates certain
features of some or all of the above models. In particular, a model largely
built on model 3, but incorporating key features of models 2 and 4 was
recommended.
The basic approach is stated as follows:

While there is a need for an independent and autonomous
organization, resource capabilities and manpower already exist within
the State and local Administration to deal with the implementation of
many aspects of disaster management. The need is for a nodal
organization that provides the necessary guidance and direction.
Therefore, the organization model depicted above takes care to ensure
that a parallel structure is not created for disaster management.
However, in respect of disaster management, this entity is clearly a
single point of accountability for all stakeholders.
The consultant suggests that in view of the need for flexibility and
adaptability, the involvement and participation of the nodal agency in disaster
management may be limited to mitigation with other components being
outsourced to implementing agencies within and outside the administrative
framework of the state.
The above aspects are relevant to most states and countries. Yet, the
specific structure will have to be designed keeping in view the hazard
profile, availability of resources and prevailing organizational structure. In
fact, the organizational structure of the GSDMA itself, appropriate for the
post-reconstruction scenario, needs to be addressed at the earliest. This is
necessary for both long-term aspects of disaster management and
sustainability of the organization.
218
An Appraisal
Consolidation and Sustainability of Initiatives

Numerous initiatives have been taken by the Government of Gujarat
and the Government of India. NGOs have also taken many initiatives.
Some of them are in the process of implementation and need to be completed
and consolidated. There is a sense of urgency because the memories of
the earthquake and the devastation still linger. When the memories fade,
will the interest and enthusiasm remain? Do we have systems and
procedures in place that ensure continuity of the new initiatives. For
example, thousands of masons and even engineers have been trained in
earthquake-resistant construction. What about those who have not been
trained? Those who have been trained during the aftermath may need
more intensive training. Training of teachers of engineering colleges still
remains a challenge. It is necessary to ensure that the GSDMA continues
to receive the same attention and high quality of human resources that are
available to it at present.
In the aftermath of the earthquake there has been awareness generated
about earthquake-resistant construction. But we have to go a long way
for enforcing building codes. There has been some improvement in the
construction practices. Engineers and builders today are more conscious
and careful. Municipal by-laws have been modified. Yet, it is felt that an
effective system is yet to be in place. There is still dearth of qualified
technical personnel. It is necessary to undertake programmes of capacity
building of municipal engineers. Though it is essential to focus on municipal
corporations, it is also necessary to address the problems relating to
municipalities and other urban areas.
There is also a need of exploring the potential of financial mitigation
mitigation measures in the form of financial instruments such as insurance
and contigency credit.
219
X Concluding Remarks
T he Kutch Earthquake of 26 January 2001 was a devastating event

and posed a massive challenge to the people, the community and the
government due to its magnitude, spread and complexity. Thousands of
villages were devastated. Cities were in ruins. Millions of people were
affected: 13,805 persons lost their lives, 167,000 persons were injured
and over a million homes were damaged or destroyed. There was enormous
damage to economic and social infrastructure. Even those holding key
positions in the local administration were affected and traumatized.
Needless to say, the initial moments, hours and even days were full of
uncertainty, shock and confusion.
Yet, the people, the government and the society rose to the occasion.
The state government launched massive rescue and relief operations with
the help of armed forces, NGOs, the central government, other state
governments and the international community. There was unprecedented
mobilization of human and material resources. Essential services such as
communication, electricity, water supply and transport, were restored
quickly. Millions of affected people were provided with relief materials,
medical services and temporary shelters.
Efforts were made to ensure that the transition from the relief phase
to recovery was smooth and short. Even when the relief activities were
being undertaken, the need for sustainable recovery was addressed. In a
few months time, the government conceptualized and formulated schemes
for reconstruction and rehabilitation. A comprehensive reconstruction
programme was introduced with a view to restructuring the physical
infrastructure and rebuilding the economic and social fabric.
220
Concluding Remarks
Many departments and other agencies had to be associated with this

gigantic task. The GSDMA helped to formulate and monitor the
implementation of a comprehensive and complex reconstruction
programme. It accomplished this task with remarkable success. The salient
aspects of the reconstruction efforts are :
" A comprehensive reconstruction and rehabilitation programme

" Medium and long-term perspectives
" Excellent public-private partnership
" Awareness, capacity building and information dissemination
" Involvement of expertise and specialized knowledge of institutions
and individuals
" Effective community participation
" Progress during each of the first three years has no parallel elsewhere.
It is worthwhile to briefly recapitulate some innovative aspects of the

GERP.
As already discussed earlier in detail, the approach to reconstruction
of houses was unique and probably one of the best efforts of the
programme. There was hardly any relocation; in spite of initial dilemma
and suggestions from some quarters, large-scale relocation was avoided.
The entire process was owner driven. Even though thousands of houses
were to be reconstructed within a short time, a temptation to undertake
the massive construction work through state agencies and contractors
was avoided. This does not mean that the state government did not play
any role; it provided financial assistance, facilitated availability of building
materials and most importantly arranged for technical assistance so as to
ensure hazard-resistant construction. People themselves were fully involved
in the design and construction of their own houses.
NGOs were associated right from the beginning. In order to facilitate
public-private partnership, a framework was conceptualized and a formal
procedure was prescribed at a very early stage of the reconstruction
221
programme. Consequently, there was an extremely smooth, healthy and

effective exchange and cooperation among a large number of public
agencies and NGOs. Even the private sector and industries were involved
in this endeavour.
Reconstruction of the four towns of Kutch district: Anjar, Bhachau,
Bhuj and Rapar was another example of a systematic approach with a
vision, administrative acumen and political courage. There was tremendous
pressure from the media and other quarters, on the government, to take
up reconstruction of the towns immediately. There was also severe criticism
of delay in reconstruction of towns as compared to villages. Yet, a scientific
approach was adopted. A number of technical studies were undertaken.
Area development authorities were created. Professional agencies were
engaged for the purpose of preparing development plans and town-planning
schemes. A variety of data was collected. Thousands of plots were
surveyed. Detailed infrastructure plans were prepared. Measures were
taken to widen roads in the old cities of Bhuj and Anjar. Elaborate public
consultations were organized. All these efforts were appreciated only at a
later stage.
The Kutch Earthquake Reconstruction Programme had the benefit of
the experiences of those who worked earlier in the context of the Latur
and other recent earthquakes. International organizations and other agencies
also brought with them the experience and learning from across the world.
The fact, however, remains that even when the task of reconstruction
appeared massive and challenging, the state administration did not hesitate
to keep in view medium-term and long-term aspects, particularly mitigation
measures that are more difficult to undertake during an emergency
situation. The newly created GSDMA with a small band of dedicated
functionaries, undertook innovative measures and a range of activities
relating to information dissemination, building codes, insurance, capacity
building, policy and legal framework and community awareness. A
significant aspect was the involvement of reputed institutions and individuals
with expertise and specialized knowledge.
There are deficiencies and limitations that arise due to the enormity of
the devastation and vastness of the affected area. In retrospect, one can
point to areas where there was scope for improvement. For example, it is
222
Concluding Remarks
pointed out that there was lack of clarity in respect of transit or interim
shelter for some time. It took considerable time to provide interim shelters.
However, with varied situations and perceptions of the affected people, it
was difficult to have a uniform approach towards it. As indicated earlier,
people were given a choice of alternatives such as building materials and
cash assistance. Maybe the government should have a policy or at least a
scheme of interim shelter for major disasters.
Another aspect relates to grievance redressal. For the first time,
officers of the judiciary were associated with a reconstruction programme
and it was an innovative approach to grievance redressal. Some people
feel that more could have been done in this respect. There are also
suggestions relating to damage and loss assessment, capacity building of
engineers supervising reconstruction in rural areas, better management of
information etc., however, no system is perfect. There is always a scope
to improve upon the existing systems and procedures. It would be
worthwhile to address these and other aspects as a part of preparedness
for disasters.
Overall, the Gujarat earthquake reconstruction efforts have been widely
acclaimed by international experts and multilateral agencies. When
compared with similar programmes elsewhere in the country and abroad,
the performance of Gujarat has been considered spectacular. Not
surprisingly, the recognition has come in the form of international awards.
There is a need to build new institutions, as in the case of the Kobe
and Chi-Chi earthquakes, and to preserve the experiences and lessons
learnt for future generations. It will be a great loss to the country and to
mankind if these unique experiences and insights are not available in the
future.
In the past there have been major disasters in India and in other
countries. Every earthquake or a similar disaster leads to a flurry of activities
that lose momentum and focus as time passes. The Kutch earthquake
resulted in one of the most comprehensive endeavours in history, with
numerous initiatives. It is necessary to ensure that all such initiatives and
innovative measures are further strengthened and consolidated so that
they become sustainable.
223
Select Bibliography
Abhiyan, GSDMA and UNDP (2003). Coming Together, Bhuj (Kutch),

Gujarat, India.
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (1999). Lessons Learned Over
Time: Innovative Earthquake Recovery in India, Learning from Earthquake
Series, Vol. II, Oakland, USA.
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (2002). Bhuj, India Earthquake
of January 26, 2001 Reconnaissance Report, Earthquake Spectra: The
Professional Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute,
Supplement A to Vol. 18, Oakland, USA.
Geological Survey of India (2000). Jabalpur Earthquake 22 May, 1977:
A Geoscientific Study, Special Publication No. 51, GSI, Calcutta.
Geological Survey of India (2003). Kutch (Bhuj) Earthquake 26 January
2001, Special Publication No. 76, GSI, Lucknow.
Government of Gujarat, Revenue Department (2004). Earthquake 2001
Administration Report (in Gujarati), Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
GSDMA (2001). Village Partnership Procedure Manual, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat.
(2001). Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
Policy, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
(2002). Gujarat Emergency Earthquake Reconstruction Project:
Project Implementation Plan Phase-II, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
(2004). Debris Management Review Report (Rajkot,Surendranagar
and Jamnagar), Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
224
Gupta, L.C., Gupta M.C., Sinha Anil, Sharma Vinod K. (2002). Gujarat
Earthquake 26th January 2001, NDM Division, Ministry of Agriculture,
Government of India, New Delhi.
Hyogo Prefectural Government (2003). Disaster Management in Hyogo
Prefecture, Kobe, Japan.
IIT, Powai, Mumbai, and Earthquake Mitigation Research Centre, Hyogo
(2001). The Bhuj Earthquake of January 26, 2001: Consequence and
Future Challenges.
Mishra, P. K. (2004). Transforming Adversity into Opportunity:
Experiences from the Gujarat Earthquake Reconstruction Programme,
in World Congress on Natural Disaster Mitigation Proceedings Volume 2,
The Institution of Engineers (India), Kolkata.
Seth, A. (2003). Learning from Earthquakes, Plain Truth, October 2003,
GSDMA, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
United Nations Centre for Regional Development (2003). Disaster
Management for Sustainable Development Regional Development
Dialogue RDD, Vol. 24, No.1, Nagoya, Japan.
WB and ADB (2001). Gujarat Earthquake Recovery Programme:
Assessment Report: A Joint Report by the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank to the Governments of Gujarat and India.
Yoshimoto, K (2002). The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake As Seen by a
Firefighter, Kobe, Japan.
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
About NIDM
The National Institute of Disaster Management constituted under the Disaster Management
Act 2005 has been entrusted with the nodal national responsibility for human resource
development, capacity building, training, research, documentation and policy advocacy in the
field of disaster management, NIDM is steadily marching forward to fulfill its mission to make
a disaster resilient India by developing and promoting a culture of prevention and preparedness
at all levels.
Functions: Under the Disaster Management Act 2005, the Institute inter alia, has been
entrusted with the following functions.
Formulate and implement a comprehensive human resource development plan

covering all aspects of disaster management.
Develop training modules, undertake research and documentation in disaster
management and organize training programme.
Formulate and implement a comprehensive human resource development plan
covering all aspects of disaster management.
Provide assistance in national level policy formulation.
Provide required assistance to the training and research institutes for development
of training and each programmes for various stakeholders.
Provide assistance to the State Governments and State training institutes in the
formulation of State level policies, strategies, disaster management framework etc.
Develop educational materials for disaster management, including academic and
professional courses.
Promote awareness among stakeholders in multi-hazard mitigation, preparedness
and response measures.
Undertake, organize and facilitate study courses, conferences, lectures, seminars
within and outside the country to promote disaster management.
Undertake and provide support for publication of journals, research papers and
books and establish and maintain libraries etc.
Thrust Areas :
Training - Face-to-Face , Web Based , Satellite Based training and Self Study courses.
Research & Documentation: NIDM documents disasters that take place in the country to
learn the lessons on the management of the disasters and use the case studies as resource
materials for the training classes and simulation exercises.
Policy Studies: NIDM provides assistance in formulation of national level policy and state
level policies, strategies and frameworks.
Consultancy Services: NIDM also provides consultancy services to the Central and State
Government departments, UN Agencies, autonomous bodies & corporations, district
administration and local authorities in developing their disaster management plans,
frameworks and strategies.
Knowledge Integration: NIDM is performing the task of knowledge integration through
networking and collaboration with a number of national and international scientific, technical
and other specialized organizations.
Disaster Management Centres and Centres of Excellence in the States: NIDM has been
implementing the Central Sector Scheme for providing assistance to State ATIs/ other
Institutions for operation of Faculty/ Centre of Disaster Management.
SAARC Disaster Management Centre: NIDM is hosting the SAARC Disaster Management
Centre which has mandate for disaster risk reduction in eight South Asian countries i.e.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Publications: Journal 'Disaster and Development', Monographs/Disaster updates, Reports
and Documentation, Quarterly Newsletter 'Tidings', Training Modules and Manuals etc.
For details visit web-site : http://www.nidm.gov.in
234
Contd from front flap
of Agricultural Insurance Schemes in
MISHRA
Asia for the Asian Productivity Pramod K. Mishra
Organization, Tokyo. He has
published a number of articles in
national and international journals of
repute. Dr Mishra has also presented
papers at a number of national and Pramod K. Mishra is presently
international seminars, as well as Chairman, Gujarat Electricity
THE KUTCH EARTHQUAKE 2001

participated in several Government Regulatory Commission. He was
of India delegations. Secretary to Government of India,
Ministry of Agriculture during 2006-
Dr Mishra carried out his doctoral 08. Earlier, he was Secretary,
research under Professor Michael National Disaster Management
Lipton, an internationally known Authority.
economist, at the Institute of
Development Studies, UK, during Dr. Mishra functioned during
199194. He obtained a Ph.D in 2001-2004 as Chief Executive Officer
Economics/Development Studies of the Gujarat State Disaster
from the University of Sussex, UK. Management Authority (GSDMA)
He has also received an MA degree created after the Kutch earthquake of
in Development Economics at the 26 January 2001. He played a crucial
University of Sussex in 1990, when role in shaping the GSDMA into a
his academic performance was rated vibrant, dynamic and innovative
outstanding by the university. In organization, which received a number
1972, Pramod Mishra obtained an of prestigious international awards
MA degree in Economics, with a first including those of the United Nations,
class, from the Delhi School of and the Commonwealth Association
Economics. for Public Administration and
M a n a g e m e n t ( C A PA M ) - f o r
outstanding work in disaster recovery
and management.
Dr Mishra is the author of Agricultural

Risk, Insurance and Income,
THE KUTCH
National Institute of Disaster Management published from the UK in 1996. This
book was and continues to be a major
IIPA Campus, 5B - IP Estate, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi - 110002 (India)
contribution on theoretical and
EARTHQUAKE 2001
Tel. 011-23702432, 23705583, 23766146
empirical aspects of the economics of
Concept & Printed at Fax : 011-23702442, 23702446
agricultural insurance. He is also the
Colour Edge Website : www.nidm.gov.in
colouredge@live.com, 09811530188 editor of Development and Operation
ISBN 81-8347-000-9 Recollections, Lessons and Insights Contd on back flap

Kutch 2001

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Contd from front flap

of Agricultural Insurance Schemes in

THE KUTCH EARTHQUAKE 2001

Dr Mishra is the author of Agricultural

Concept & Re-Print at : Colour Edge

Assessment of Damage by the

Chapter VII Progress of Reconstruction and

ACEO Additional Chief Executive Officer

DRM Disaster Risk Management

R&B Roads and Buildings

Table 1 Emergency hospitals 31

Table 21.3 Assistance under package 3 for destroyed and

Chart 1 Formal and informal organizational interactions

Gujarat earthquake of 2001, measuring 7.7 Mw resulted in colossal loss

First published in 2005, the book continues to be much demand. NIDM

M ajor disasters occur time and again, necessitating emergency

to the challenges despite many constraints. It analyses how a

F riday, 26 January 2001, was a calm and bright winter morning. I

yet to begin. Some people were watching the programme on television.

approach of response, post-disaster mitigation and preparedness. Each of

T he response of a system or organization depends a great deal on how

B.R. Patel, Director of Relief, Revenue Department, Gandhinagar

C.K. Koshy, Principal Secretary, Revenue Department

Kamal Dayani, Collector and District Magistrate, Kutch

impossible to communicate with the state capital as all communication

because of the lack of electricity. It was difficult to locate the owners of

Vivek Srivastav, SP, Kutch

singing the national anthem. The Minister returned to the Collectorate

Himanshu Bhatt, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kutch

Rajiv Topno, DDO, Kutch

M. L. Chandana, Civil Surgeon, Bhuj

G. Rao, Practising Surgeon, Bhuj

Janak Dave, BAPS, a Non-Governmental Organization(NGO)

M. F. Dastoor, Divisional Fire Officer, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

Anil Sinha, Additional Central Relief Commissioner, New Delhi

The State Capital

I n Gandhinagar, senior officers were present at the venue of the Republic

Damage to multi-storey Hare Krishna Apartments in Surat

Isoseismal Map of The Kutch Earthquake 2001

Source: GSI (2003)

This map is not to scale and is indicative

The City of Ahmedabad

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) stationed at Ahmedabad, had swung

international expert. The methodology for the survey of damaged building

The City of Bhuj and Kutch District

Wood for the purpose of funerals

A collapsed building at Bhuj

Table 1: Emergency hospitals

Hotel Madhuban, Gandhidham

Thousands of people who were trapped had to be rescued. The area

Table 2: Personnel in rescue and relief work

Table 3: Rescue equipment deployed during the immediate

Equipment Kutch Others Total

No. of Mobilized for

Table 5: Medical personnel and vehicles

Medical camp at village Ratnal

United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health

Table 6: Distribution of emergency assistance

Relief measures Number Rs (Crore)

Cash doles 911,063 Families 73.75

Table 7: Water supply restored in towns and villages as of 19 Feb. 2001

Relief materials were pouring in from everywhere. There was, no

contractors and structural engineers associated with the buildings that

Table 8: Police cases filed after the Kutch earthquake